White River High’s cross country runners battled the tough Bonney Lake Panthers Thursday afternoon, but fell a bit short in both the boy and girls races.

Running through the Demonstration Forest during a downpour, the Hornet boys lost 25-33; it was even closer on the girls side, with the host Panthers emerging with a 26-29 victory.

In the girls race, White River’s Lauryn Wate was again dominant, finishing in 17 minutes, 32 seconds – 53 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. Other Hornets counting in the team scoring were Kelly Coyle, third overall with a time of 18:38; Christina Ramous, sixth, 18:45; Emmabeth Hickle, ninth, 20:10; and Katie Simmons, 10th, 20:37.

White River was tough at the top of the boys race, with Kody Gould and Hayden Zirkle claiming first and second place, respectively. Gould finished in 14:55 and Zirkle came in at 15:23. Sumner took the victory by taking the next six spots. Others factoring in the White River scoring were Dru Nichols, ninth, 16:10; Taylor Moser, 10th, 16:31; and Chris Suveges, 11th, 16:33.