GRAFTON – Jordan Gillum and Jack Waggy finished first and second for the Buckhannon-Upshur cross country Buccaneers in Saturday’s Bearcat Invitational.

Gillum was the lone runner to finish the race in under 17 minutes as he clocked a time of 16:56.

Waggy posted a runner-up time of 17:08.

The other Bucs scoring were Reis Leonard in 16^th (18:09), Joey Nolte in 25^th (18:54) and Owen Cutright in 29^th (19:03).

Buckhannon-Upshur just missed out on the team title as they finished one point behind Fairmont Senior.

The Polar Bears had 53 points while the Bucs had 54 points. East Fairmont was a close third with 59 points.

The rest of the Buckhannon-Upshur runners were Alex Sappey in 37^th (19:45), Brycen Allen in 40^th (19:53), Weldon Zirkle in 62^nd (21:12), Jeremy Allman in 70^th (21:39), Brandon Landis in 85^th (22:40) and Ryan Tenney in 85^th (22:40).

“We had a really great race from the boys,” stated Buckhannon-Upshur head coach Taylor Stacy. ”I was super impressed with the individual performances by Jordan and Jack. I think it was exactly the kind of confidence boost we need before we roll into Conference and Regionals in October. I think the boys have a legitimate chance of taking the Big 10 titles home if they can stick together and put together a solid performance on race day.”

The Bucs will be back in action Saturday in the Fairmont Senior Polar Bear Invite at the Apple Valley Golf Course starting at 11 a.m.