Youth, balance lead Kaiserslautern girls to victory in cross country meet; Ramstein boys cruise

Three freshmen finished in the top ten in Kaiserslautern Cross Country girls team victory Saturday. From left: Jillian Donmoyer, Kayla Ballard and Piper Parsells. Photo by Amy Mathews-Soto

by Robert Baldwin
contributing writer

Kaiserslautern’s girls balance proved to be too much for the rest of the eleven-team field as the Raiders won in Wiesbaden on Saturday. Ninth graders Kayla Ballard, Jillian Donmoyer and Piper Parsells finished seventh, ninth and tenth. Tabitha Farley, Bailee Buys and Angelica Perez placed in the top 21. There were 212 runners who finished.
Nadia Rahman of Ramstein continued her outstanding season by placing second between two Frankfurt runners. Alexis Pierre-Louis, Sophia Pak and Alexis Tri placed 13, 14 and 16.
In the boys competition, Ramstein’s depth overwhelmed the field. Kaiserslautern’s Griffen Parsells won by over a full minute by finishing in a rapid 16:43 over the 5K route. Ramstein’s Connor Mackey was second and Kaiserslautern’s Ethan Cooper was third. Ramstein took seven of the next eight places and eight of the top 12. Jacob Cruz was Baumholder’s top finisher in 25th place.
Ramstein, Kaiserslautern and Baumholder go head to head at Seewoog tomorrow.