WEST DES MOINES — The Marshalltown boys’ cross country team moved its pack foward, and the Bobcats got their top result of the season as a result.

Four Marshalltown boys finished in the top 10 and the Bobcats placed second out of seven scoring teams at the 49th Tom Karpan Invite on Tuesday at Valley Southwoods. Host Valley won the meet with 24 points and the Bobcats were second at 55, finishing comfortably ahead of Ankeny Centennial (72) in third.

MHS senior James Johnson set the bar for the Bobcats in this meet, finishing sixth overall with a time of 17 minutes, 29.9 seconds. Freshman Preston Johnson picked up seventh place with a 17:33.3, while John Moellers was close behind in eighth place with a finish of 17:34.1. Carter Nunn, a sophomore, scored ninth place in 17:44.4, and Caleb Rasmussen rounded out the team’s scoring efforts in 25th place (18:32.4).

“Great pack running tonight led to a strong team finish,” said MHS head coach Chad Pietig. “Sophomore Carter Nunn really stepped up to make that happen. Proud of the efforts of all these guys tonight.”

Dale Greene (47th, 19:36.6) and Parker Gooding (50th, 19:41.5) rounded out the Bobcats’ top seven competitors.

On the girls’ side, Marshalltown landed last out of seven teams with 219 points. Ankeny Centennial (45) narrowly held off Ankeny (49) and West Des Moines Valley (59) for the event championship.

Sophomore Miller Heitmann led the Bobcats on this day, collecting 39th place with a time of 23:25.4. Anessa Morrison was 51st in 25:14.3, and the next five Marshalltown runners finished consecutively. Thalia Gallegos posted 53rd place (26:41.0), Emerson Eastman was 54th (27:37.9), Alexia Garcia was 55th (27:55.3), Kaitlyn Yepez took 56th (28:55.7) and Aubrie Tejada placed 57th (29:58.6).

Both Bobcat squads are back in action Saturday. The Marshalltown boys travel to Pella for the Central College Invite, while the MHS girls compete in BCLUW’s Comet Invite at 9 a.m. at South Hardin Recreation Area in Union.