The Austin girls cross country team took second and the Austin boys took third in the Hayfield Invite Thursday.

The Packer girls had three runners in the top six as Haley Splinter took first, Madison Overby took fourth and McKenzie Besel came in sixth.

Splinter, a sophomore, followed two runners from DESC for the first two miles before pulling ahead with 400 meters left.

“It’s one of the best team scores we’ve had in quite some time and we’re pretty excited about that,” Austin head coach Tony Einertson said of his girls team. “The three top girls really came through for us and Haley won a tough race.”

Nate Schwab had a good race for the boys as he took ninth and he improved his time at last year’s Hayfield Invite by almost two minutes.

Zach Fadness took ninth for Austin.

“They showed a lot of improvement and that’s important,” Einertson said.

The Pacelli boys team didn’t have any varsity runners, but the girls had two. Madeline Kraemer took 19th with a time of 17:29 and Annie Holtz was 45th with a time of 19:05.

Kraemer’s time was over a minute faster than last year’s time in Hayfield.

Daniel Hanson of Blooming Prairie made a strong push to finish 20th in the boys race after he tripped in the first 40 meters and fell into last place.

“He was able to work his way back into the race and run an excellent time,” BP head coach John Bruns said.

The BP girls were led by Kendra Boecker, who took 28th.

“Almost all of them ran faster tonight then they did last year at this time so that is a good sign,” Bruns said. “A couple of them were more than two minutes faster.”

Hayfield’s boys were led by sophomore David Kuehn, who took eighth and the Hayfield girls were led by sophomore Alexis Anderson, who took 17th.

RESULTS

Austin boys: Nate Schwab (ninth, 17:50); Zach Fadness (10th, 17:56); Max Gillen (22nd, 18:30); Joe Gerber (25th, 18:43); Dylan Diekmann (31st, 18:54); Gabe Ramirez (32nd, 18:55); Andrew Baker (41st, 19:15)

Austin girls: Haley Splinter (first, 15:38); 2. Madison Overby (fourth, 16:13); McKenzie Besel (sixth, 16:42); Kaitlynn Carol (41st, 18:38); Lauren Thompson (42nd, 18:41); Katelyn Harder (48th, 19:13); Annissa Zynda (52nd, 19:25)

BP girls boys: Adam Driessen (16th, 18:16); Jake Elwood (19th, 18:23); Daniel Hanson (20th, 18:25); Tyler Cozine (42nd, 19:28); Andrew Grant (48th, 20:20); Derek Weringa (50th, 20:28)

BP girls: Kendra Boecker (28th, 17:51); Katie Williamson (39th, 18:33); Tricia DeBoer (44th, 19:07); Courtney Easton (46th, 19:09); Kelsey Kubista (53rd, 19:26); DaVyll Smith (55th, 19:59); Arlyne Soto (61st, 20:51)

Boys team scores

1. Byron (62)

2. Plainview/Elgin/Millville (69)

3. Austin (97)

4. DESC (98)

5. John Marshall (110)

6. Blooming Prairie (145)

7. Zumbrota Mazeppa/Kenyon/Wanamingo (158)

8. Hayfield (172)

9. Pine Island (232)

Girls team scores

1. DESC (48)

2. Austin (85)

3. John Marshall (88)

4. Mankato East (88)

5. ZM/KW (94)

6. Hayfield (154)

7. BP (188)

8. Pine Island (229)