Kellyn Daly and Shawn Little were the first two finishers across the line as the Dowagiac cross country team opened the season by hosting Allegan in a Wolverine Conference meet Tuesday.

Unfortunately for the Chieftains, that did not translate into a victory over the Tigers.

Allegan won the girls portion of the meet 20-39, while Dowagiac did not field enough boys to post a score and was defeated.

Daly, running her first cross country race, finished with a time of 24:34 to edge Allegan’s Jasmine Shierbeek by a second.

“Kellyn Daly was the big surprise for the girls,”Dowagiac coach Dan VandenHeede said. “This was her first 5K ever and I told her to just try and go out easy to find her pace. She ended up winning the whole thing and out-sprinted Allegan at the end.

Allegan would grab the next four places to earn the victory.

Dowagiac’s No. 2 runner was Hayden First, who was seventh overall with a time of 29:08.

Little had no competition in Tuesday’s opener as he finished nearly a full minute ahead of the Tigers’ Blaine Johnson.

Little ran a time of 16:56, while Johnson finished with a 17:45.

“Shawn Little easily won the boys race with a sub 17, which is only 25 seconds off the school record in his first race of the season,” VandenHeede said.

Allegan claimed the next five spots before Dowagiac’s David Napier grabbed eighth-place with a time of 22:02.