PENDLETON — Led by one of its youngest runners, Pendleton Heights’ girls cross country team finished second at the Arabian Roundup on Wednesday, Aug. 25, in the annual home regular season meet that brings in more than 300 girls and boys high school cross country runners.

The Pendleton Heights boys team finished sixth in its race.

Out of 155 runners from 17 schools, Pendleton Heights freshman Ava Jarrell was among the leaders.

Up front early, Jarrell finished fifth with a time of 21:26.6 in the 5,000-meter race.

Five of the seven Pendleton Heights varsity runners were freshmen or sophomores. The Arabians finished with 96 points. All seven placed in the Top 35.

Mt. Vernon won the race with 78 points, led by race winner Morgan Tharp, who finished in 20:08.

Pendleton Heights finished six points ahead of New Palestine, with both Warren Central (114) and Roncalli (117) not too far behind to round out the Top 5 teams.

Following Jarrell, senior Laney Ricker was 12th with a time or 22:06.1. Sophomore Abby Davidson placed 25th (22:59.6). Freshman Julieanne Spejewski was just a couple spots behind her, finishing 27th in 23:12.4. The fifth scoring Arabian was sophomore Olivia Welpott (32nd, 23:27.6).

Senior Ella Dixon was 34th (23:30.9), and sophomore Jaycee Thurman placed 35th (23:33.7).

“For our second race (of the season), I think we did well, but we definitely have room for improvement, and we will work on that during practice,” Pendleton Heights coach Melissa Hagerman said.

“(Jarrell) did a good job, a nice job getting out and trying to stay with that lead pack. We have some things to work on and try out. We had another freshman (Spejewski) that came out of nowhere and finished (fourth on the team) for us. That was good to see her up there.”

The boys team placed sixth with 179 points. Wapahani won the team competition with 71.

The boys race also had 155 runners. Leading the way for Pendleton Heights was junior Andrew Blake, who finished 15th with a time of 18:22.2. Senior Avry Carpenter placed 21st, finishing in 18:39.3.

Junior Ian McLaughlin (35th, 19:31), senior Gabe Holland (45th, 19:56) and junior Jason Lyst (75th, 21:01.1) were the other scoring runners.

Junior Nick Bronnenberg placed 96th (22:35.6), and Jack Goehring, who was 141st (26:29.7), wrapped up the Arabians’ Top 7.

Both teams are set to run Saturday at the Marion Invitational.