This Saturday, the Titan Top 14 ran in their first (and last) invitational of the season. The Wildcat Invitational, hosted by the Wheeling cross country team, took place at Heritage Park in Wheeling. The hilly course was a tough one, but the boys took it in stride, dominating the meet at the Varsity and Junior Varsity level.

Brian Hiltebrand (JR) and Mrugesh Thakor (SR) led the Varsity team, finishing in 2nd and 3rd with times of 16:08 and 16:12. Behind them, Cody Slutzky (SR) finished in 8th at 17:02. Matthew Finkel (SR) came through the line at 17:10 in 10th place. Preston Davidson (SR), Michael Westfall (JR), and Michael Jerva (JR) rounded out the Top 7 in 15th, 25th, and 27th. Michael Westfall really stepped up in this race, moving up from JV to take Jayson Stamm’s spot. In the end, the Titans captured a win with 38 points, far ahead of Conant’s 77.

The real stars of the show today were our JV runners. Because Jayson wasn’t running today, Michael Westfall moved up to take his spot. Brett Wittenstein also did not compete, so the JV boys were running as a team of 5. Harrison Wollney (SR) took an early lead, and he kept it going for the entire race. In the end, he finished 1st with a time of 18:01, a full 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. Behind him, Elie Nassif (JR, 18:20) and Sebastian Zimmer (JR, 18:22) finished together in 2nd and 3rd. JP Philbrick (JR, 18:36) was the 4th GBS runner through the line in 4th place. Matthew Klonecki (JR, 18:51) rounded out the Titans’ Top 5 with a 6th place finish. In all, the team finished with a near-perfect score of 16 points, way ahead of Conant’s 54.

The Top 14 will run again next Saturday at the CSL Conference Championship meet. After this weekend’s fantastic showing, we’re excited to see what the Titans can do.