Not even Mother Nature could slow down Canton's girls cross country team Saturday.

  Running in less-than-ideal conditions, the Chiefs captured first place at the Ludington Invitational.

  Canton finished with 37 points, 17 fewer than runner-up Ludington.

  "It is a very challenging course and the conditions were cool (mid-50s) with wind and a light mist at race time," said Canton coach Eric Pahl. "Even with the conditions, the girls performed very well.

  "It was fun to watch the girls place that well. We ran against teams that we rarely see and ran pretty well. It's a very difficult course: sandy with a lot of hills, and the times reflect that."

  Senior captain Bianca Kubicki paced the winners with a second-place effort in 20:19. Also scoring for the Chiefs were Emily Southern (fifth in 21:47), Rachel Rohrbach (seventh in 22:01), Jessica Siegler (11th in 22:30) and Abigail Gorzalski (12thin 22:34).

  Rounding out the top seven were Allison Spitz (14th in 23:10) and Anna Gorzalski (17th in 23:23).

  "Bianca started the race slowly and gradually picked up the pace," said Pahl. "If the race had been a little longer, she had a real chance to catch the leader. Bianca did take a wrong turn at one point, which cost her a couple seconds."

  Manistee's Kelly Schubert won the race in 19:49.

  "Emily and Rachel were solid again," said Pahl. "Abigail and Jessica ran together the whole race with Jessica passing Abigail at the finish."

  The Chiefs return to action Tuesday at 4:30 p.m. when they take on Livonia Franklin in a dual meet at Nankin Mills.