The PCM, Pleasantville, and Melcher-Dallas boys and girls cross country teams competed at the Chariton Charger Invitational Thursday.

The PCM girls finished second overall as a team with 60 points and were led by Tiffani Koonce, who finished fifth overall with a time of 21:08.8. The freshman duo of Lila Milani and Ali Hilsabeck finished eighth and tenth overall for PCM. The Mustang boys finished sixth overall with 140 points and their top runner was Coby DeRaad, who finished with a time of 18:21.2. PCM Cross Country Coach Eric Karr talked about how his team did at the course. 

“We kind of like this course. We ran really well last year. Definitely some challenges. It starts up  hill and some decent hills here but we really ran well and there were some good teams here to push and fight for us.”

The Pleasantville girls team finished fifth overall with 147 points and their top runner of the night was Kyleigh McConnell who finished with a time of 22:52.5. The Pleasantville boys did not score but their top finisher was Kurt Kuhnen who finished 14th overall with a time of 18:05.4. Kuhnen has been consistent all year for the Trojans and has put together an impressive 2023 season. Pleasantville Cross Country Coach Aaron Fitcher was happy with how his team competed.

“I really felt like this might have been the best race we had from top to bottom tonight. Some kids maybe didn’t have their best race but overall I felt like we had a lot of good first mile and being able to hold onto the second mile a little better. I think the kids just felt good about it as well so I was really happy with how we competed tonight.”

Melcher-Dallas did not score as a team for boys or girls. Their top runner on the boys side was Austin Remster, who finished 96th with a time of 24:35.1, and their top girls finisher was Addison Wadle with a time of 23:00.7. 

Pleasantville’s next cross country meet is on Monday at Nodaway Valley and PCM will next compete on Tuesday in Centerville.