By John Leggett

The Courier-Herald

The Sumner High cross country teams dropped close decisions Oct. 14 to district rival Bonney Lake.

The boys score was 25-32 for the Panthers while the Spartan girls were defeated 26-29.

The Spartan girls lost a heartbreaker as Panther harrier Veronica Stinnett crossed the finish line first with a time of 19 minutes, 58 seconds and Sumner’s senior runner Ashlee Sincraugh wasn’t far behind with a time of 21:18, good for third overall.

Sincraugh finished first for Sumner, followed closely by Stefani Castile, 21:42, Gabby Phelps, 22:45, and Leah Engelhardt, 22:59.

On the boys side, sophomore Reid Selmer finished first for Sumner and second overall with a clocking of 18:17, on a slow course in atrocious weather conditions. Practically shadowing Selmer were junior Jobe Layton at 18:59 and senior Anthony Bertolucci at 19:19 as the boys lost to Bonney Lake by seven points.

According to Sumner coach Kristin Martin, the Sumner runners will be focusing the majority of their practice hours on this Saturday’s subdistrict action at Fort Steilacoom in Lakewood. Race time is 10 a.m. for the varsity girl runners and at 10:30 a.m. the starting gun will sound for the boys varsity runners. Awards will be presented at 12:30 p.m.