Photo by Kim North Pictured are the individual winners at the Belmont County Cross Country Invitational on Wednesday on the campus of Union Local High School. Bellaire’s Landen Perdue, left, was the boys winner in a time of 18-minutes, 45.80-seconds. Martins Ferry’s Alanna Williams won the girls race in 21:53.83.

MORRISTOWN — Bellaire’s boys and girls cross country teams haven’t lost a meet this season. Nothing changed Wednesday at the Belmont County Invitational held on the sun-baked 3.1-mile course around the Union Local High School campus.

The Big Red boys placed all five scoring runners in the top 10 to finish with 24 points.

Martins Ferry was a distant second with 41. Union Local (81), Barnesville (9) and Bridgeport (124) rounded out the top 5. Shadyside, River and Buckeye Local didn’t field full teams.

On the girls’ side, the Big Reds had their top four runners claim top 10 finishes for 32 points, with the fifth runner finishing 11th.

Martins Ferry was second with 46, while Shadyside (51), Barnesville (90) and Buckeye Local (151) were third through fifth. Union Local and Bridgeport didn’t field full teams.

“Neither team has lost yet this season,” Bellaire head coach Chris Arno said. “The girls only have one senior, but they are a really close knit group. They are running well right now, but it’s a long season. We’ll have to wait and see what happens down the road.

“I think both teams are buying into the tradition that we’ve built here over the years. They want to be a part of it. Both programs feed off of each other and they support and cheer for each other. It’s like a family atmosphere and that’s what we strive for.”

Neither of the individual winners – Bellaire’s Landen Perdue and Martins Ferry’s Alanna Williams – competed in cross country last year but decided to give it a try this fall. They both ran away from their respective fields.

“We’ve been trying to get Landen out for a couple of years now,” Arno said. “We’re glad that he is here now. We’re trying to figure out what talent he has that we can tap into. We’re hoping for big things from him down the season.”

Perdue clocked out in 18-minutes, 45.80-seconds, nearly a full second ahead of last year’s winner, Union Local’s Connor Bendo whose time was 19:43.14. Big Red teammates Kai Jon Cerritos and Kai Brehm finished third and fourth, respectively, in times of 20:11.49 and 20:13.31. Martins Ferry’s Nicholas Miller finished fifth in 20:40.89.

Also scoring for Bellaire were Brae Schmidli (7th, 21:15.32) and Keyser Taylor (9th, 21:29.82).

Williams was once again dominant as she ran 21:53.83 on the rugged course. Her time was almost a full minute ahead of Bellaire’s Kamdin Snider who clocked out at 22:52.47.

“The course was pretty tough,” Williams allowed. “I just try to run my hardest and hope it works out in the end.”

Last year’s winner, Shadyside’s Chloe Meholovitch who timed out in 22:58.37. Finishing fourth was Bellaire’s Kayla Edgar (23:51.47), while Shadyside’s Gabby Kosky (24:33.65) was fifth.

Also scoring for the Big Reds were Liz Mayer (7th, 25:21.13); Lyla Blazek (8th, 25:24.72) and Gigi Kendle (12th, 26:18.00).