GRINNELL — The Ottumwa girls cross country team ran to a third-place finish Tuesday while the boys placed sixth in action at the Grinnell Invitational.

Williamsburg and Grinnell tied for first in the girls’ race with 71 points each. Williamsburg was declared the winner on the time of their seventh runner. The Bulldogs edged Pella by one point to take third, as the Bulldogs had 103 points to Pella’s 104.

“Williamsburg and Grinnell are always top schools in Class 3A, so we are happy with the third-place finish” said Ottumwa girls coach Angela Berry. “We’ve been in the top three in every race so far, so that’s something we can be proud of.”

Daylin Latham was Ottumwa’s top finisher, as she placed eighth in a time of 16:42. Newton’s Grace Coen was the individual winner at 16:00. The Bulldogs saw Caroline Owens finish 12th (16:56) and Sydney Strunk placed 18th (17:34). Katy Fish was 29th, Sarah Keith 36th, Charlette Flanders 47th and Madison Zesiger 50th.

“We need to continue to stick to our game plan and stay mentally tough whatever the conditions,” Berry said. “We start and finish well, we need to improve the middle part of our race.”

Ottumwa girls JV results were not available at press time.

Cody McConnell led the Bulldog boys once again, finishing fifth overall in a time of 17:23. Pella’s Evan Jones won the boys race at 16:55, as the Dutch coasted to a team victory with 28 points and five finishers in the top 10.

“All of our times were slower from last Thursday,” said Ottumwa boys coach Jeff Smith. “That is an area of concern, but the conditions were not good and we have several varsity runners running this distance for first time.”

Charlie Altfillisch placed 11th for Ottumwa with a time of 17:49. Collin McConnell placed 44th for Ottumwa, Shane Riley was 48th, Curtis Ford was 53rd and Jianwa Bennett placed 66th.

“This is a busy week for us,” said Smith. “It will be a grueling, challenging week, and hopefully it will be a little cooler.”

The Bulldogs will be back in action on Thursday at Fairfield.

GRINNELL INVITATIONAL

Grinnell

9/4/12

BOYS

Team scoring — 1. Pella 28, 2. Grinnell 97, 3. Newton 106, 4. Vinton-Shellsburg 144, 5. Benton Community 155, 6. Ottumwa 161, 7. Williamsburg 175, 8. Oskaloosa 189, 9. Knoxville 209, 10. South Tama 226, 11. Pella Christian 326, 12. Lynnville-Sully 370, 13. Belle Plaine 386, 14. Union 391.

Top Ten — 1. Evan Jones (P) 16:55, 2. Wick Cunningham (KNOX) 17:01, 3. Skylar DeJong (OSKY) 17:07, 4. Keegan Fitzsimmons (PELLA) 17:16, 5. Cody McConnell (Ott) 17:23, 6. Wade Pingel (PEL) 17:38, 7. Tyler Steele (BC) 17:40, 8. Ryan Sievers (Pel) 17:45, 9. Michael Schemm (PEL) 17:45, 10. Christian Laube (Newt) 17:47.

Ottumwa Runners — 5. Cody McConnell  17:23, 11. Charlie Altfillisch 17:49, 44. Collin McConnell 19:48, 48. Shane Riley 19:56, 53. Curtis Ford 20:09, 66. Jianwa Bennett 21:02.

Ottumwa JV Runners — Isaac Ramos 24:12, Nick Sedore 22:58, Nick Sheehy 21:58, Billy Barnes 22:12, Grant Gullion 23:01, Jared Bohlman 24:13, Alex Ayala 23:22, Riley Wynn 21:59, Isaac Goodman 23:22, Sebastian Silva 21:26, Wyatt Blegan 24:43, David Helfenberger 35:32, Paul Cartwright 34:10.

GIRLS

Team scoring — 1. Williamsburg 71, 2. Grinnell 71, 3. Ottumwa 103, 4. Pella 104, 5. Benton Community 135, 6. Vinton SHellsburg 146, 7. Newton 171, 8. Oskaloosa 208, 9. Knoxville 232, 10. Union 264, 11. Belle Plaine 309, 12, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 313.

Top Ten — 1. Grace Coen (N) 16:00, 2. Bailey Blythe (OSKY) 16:09, 3. Olivia Gallo (GRIN) 16:16, 4. Lily Horst (VS) 16:34, 5. Gabi Meirick (Pel) 16:35, 6. Chezlie Johnson (Grin) 16:38, 7. Madison Weekly (BC) 16:41, 8. Daylin Latham (Ott) 16;42. 9. Belle Hartman (Will) 16:48, 10. Shannon Mullnif (Will) 16:48.9.

Ottumwa Runners — 8. Daylin Latham 16:42, 12. Caroline Owens 16:56, 18. Sydney Strunk 17:34, 29. Katy Fish 18:29, 36. Sarah Keith 19:00, 47. Charlette Flanders 19:25, 50. Madison Zesiger 19:30.