The Soda Springs girls' cross country team made a strong statement in its opening meet of the season Friday in Pocatello.

In an event that featured two 5A and three 4A schools, the three-time defending 2A champion Cardinals placed eight runners in the top 14 to cruise to victory at the City Creek Invitational. Soda Springs finished with 28 points, while 5A Idaho Falls was second with 63 and 4A Pocatello third with 66.

"Its's nice to have that depth," said Soda Springs coach Jeff Horsley. "I thoght we were gonna be a little bit thin, and there were some girls that ran a lot better than I was expecting. It was nice to see them have the depth that we've been uesd to the last couple of years."

Cardinals senior Bailey Siepert won the individual title in a time of 21 minutes, 55 seconds.

Pocatello placed four girls in the top 15, led by senior Becca Aplington, who finished third in 23:01.

Overall, coach Shannon Whitmer was pleased with her girls' effort.

"We need a couple girls to move up a little and close that gap between four or five," Whitmer said, "but I was impressed."

Madison captured the boys' team title with 23 points, while Idaho Falls came in second with 40. Soda Springs and Pocatello finished fifth and sixth, respectively, with 115 and 128.

The Indians will be back in action Thursday when they travel to Burley for a face at the Ponderosa Golf Course. Soda Springs will host the annual Cardinal Classic Invitational on Saturday.

Century freshman impresses

JEROME - The Century girls' cross country team finished second and its boys' team third at the College of Southern Idaho meet on Friday.

Freshman Hannah McInturff finished first among the girls with a time of 20 minutes, 1 second. McInturff has kept in shape all summer not just by running, but also by swimming.

"We were anticipating that she was going to be good," Century coach Doug Hopster said. "The first race in high school, you never know. But we thought that she would probably be right there with the leaders, and she was."

Four other Diamondbacks girls finished in the top 18. On the boys' side, Dylan Lammers led Century with a ninth-place finish, and three other Diamondbacks finished in the top 20.

Considering they were running in 95-degree heat, Hopster was pleased with his runners.

"Both the boys and girls performed better than we were hoping," Hopster said.

Century next races at the Cardinal Classic Invitational on Sept. 5 in Soda Springs.