Notre Dame-Cathedral Latin cross country used Saturday's Boardman Spartan Invitational as an opportunity to measure progress and gain valuable experience on the course that will host the regional meet later this season.

Zoey Meyers led the NDCL girls with a 12th-place finish, while Kyle Nedved paced the boys with a 21st-place performance.

Beyond the finishing places, the Lions focused on improvement from previous performances at Boardman. With the difficulty of the course making personal records less common, NDCL's returning runners largely showed significant progress compared with last year's meet.

Kennedy Smith finished 136th for the girls, followed by Avery Bender in 140th, Lucy Edger in 159th and Katya Cobb in 162nd.

Edger continued her return from injury by competing at Boardman, while Cobb continued her steady progression by establishing a new personal record.

On the boys' side, Nedved's 21st-place finish led the way. Blake Newman placed 182nd, Luis Enrique Heredia-Salinas finished 184th and Noah Scheider was 330th.

Saturday's meet provided the Lions with another opportunity to compete in a large field while becoming more familiar with a demanding course that could take on added importance during the postseason.

With most of NDCL's returning runners showing improvement from their previous performances at Boardman, the Lions left the meet with an encouraging measure of their progress as the season continues.