MOUNTAIN LAKE — Murray County Central/Fulda’s Laiken Farris was the top individual runner in the girl’s cross country race, while the Mountain Lake Area-Comfrey/Red Rock Central girl’s team also finished in first place at the Paul Metcalf Invitational in Mountain Lake Friday morning. The MCC/F’s boys team placed third, and MLAC/RRC’s Cooper Evers had a runner-up finish.

Farris beat out all 76 individual runners in the girl’s 5,000 meter race with a time of 20:17.91, with a 26-second lead ahead of MLAC/RRC’s Katie Johnson’s second-place finish. She ran a 20:43.66.

MLAC/RRC took first as a team with 56 points, while MCC/F doesn’t have enough runners to qualify as a full team. Russell-Tyler-Ruthton finished last with 127 points.

Mara Clarke for MCC/F finished in 10th at 22:35.24, with RTR’s Summer Labrune followed closely behind in 11th with a 22:36.71 time.

Emily Johnson for MLAC/RRC placed 15th with a 23:04.74, while Holland Vogel also had a good performance, finishing in 16th with a time of 23:09.27 for MCC/F.

On the boys side, MCC/F placed third as a team with 102 points, trialing behind Eagle Ridge Academy’s 81 points and Windom Area’s 48, who took first. MLAC/RRC took sixth with 130 points, and RTR came in 11ths with 265.

Individually, Evers led the way out of 96 runners with a 17:17.59 for second place, only behind Luverne’s Marcus Papik with a 16:56.16.

Matthew Stapek for MCC/F had a sixth place finish at 17:37.66. Aiden Appel followed with a time of 18:35.41 for 13th, as did MLAC/RRC’s Joseph Torres with a 18:41.43 for 14th.

The MCC/F and RTR cross country teams will both return back to the course at the Tracy-Milroy-Balaton meet next Thursday at the Tracy County Club. Canby/Minneota and Wabasso will also compete at the meet. MLAC/RRC will next head to the Bruce Gluf Invitational next Saturday in Luverne.