The Sparta cross country team had an excellent showing at the Metro East Lutheran Invitational Saturday. The Sparta boys team took first place with 50 points, while the girls team took third with 119 points.

The Bulldog boys were dominant as they ran away with the team title with a low score of 50 points followed by Freeburg (101) and Marissa-Coulterville (134 points). A total of 17 schools from Illinois and Missouri took part in the competition.

In the boys race, Sparta was led by Wade Reeves (second place 17:20), Jon Hill (sixth place 17:46), Wes Bradshaw (12th place 18:26), Trevor Morgan (15th place 18:48) and Dustin Neff (23rd place 19:03).

The Sparta girls took third behind Freeburg (41 points) and Petersburg PORTA with 74 points. The Lady Bulldogs were paced by Aleigh Eggemeyer (third place 21:07), Melyssa Bradshaw (11th place 22:05), Kristina Wilson (26th place 23:07), Kortney Stefani (39th 24:08), and Jackie Robinson (42nd 24:12).