Clear Lake harriers finish strong at B-K Invitational

Clear Lake harriers rose to the challenge last week and finished strong at the Belmond-Klemme Invitational Tuesday, Sept. 10.

With two of their top five boys hurt, the Lions still finished third in the eight-team field.  Osage and GHV/WH were first and second respectively with 40 and 44 points respectively.  The Lions finished with 89.  Eagle Grove (107), Forest City (127), Central Springs (146) and Clarion-Goldfield (247), completed the field. 

Hampton-Dumont ran without a complete team.

Antonio DiMarco led the Lions, finishing third in 16:46, just 19 seconds behind the winner. Ryan Faught made it in the top 10, placing 10th in 18:11.

“Ryan is getting closer to the 17’s where he will be able to compete for an all conference spot,” said Coach Nick DiMarco.  “Tanner Storbeck, Spencer Orr, Joe Schiller, and Jacob Welper did a great job of ‘pack running,’ working together to pick off runners as the race went along,” he added.

Storbeck was 23rd in 19:32; Orr placed 25th in 19:42; Welper was 28th in 19:44 and Schiller grabbed 30th in 19:46.  Alex Enabnit rounded out the varsity team, placing 35th in 20:02.

Coach DiMarco noted the junior varsity boys ran in the same race as the varsity and it seemed to help their pacing.

Jake Harle was fifth and Kaleb Froiland was sixth for the Lions in 20:52 and 20:54.   Sam Jones was close behind in 21:12, good for ninth place.  Grant Dieken was 16th in 21:47 and Colby Klipping was 34th in 24:23.  Also running was Nicholas Holtz (43rd, 25:31), Ben Hillyer (45th, 26:25) and Sam Ponnada (50th, 34:42).

Clear Lake’s varsity girls team was fourth among eight teams competing at B-K.   Osage and GHV/WH placed first and second with 42 and 48 points.  Eagle Grove edged the Lions, 105 to 108.  Other scores included: C-G (130), H-D (141), Central Springs (168) and Forest City (176).

The Lions were led by Logan Anderson and Jaci Ullrich, placing 10th and 11th respectively in 19:11 and 19:16.  Trudy Peterson finished 17th in 19:38.  Courtney Anderson and Kirsten Reineke also ran strong races, finishing 30th and 46th in 20:56 and 22:17.  Miranda Mundt placed 50th in 26:51.

The community has a rare opportunity to watch the local harriers this week.  The Clear Lake Invitational will be held Thursday at the Regular Baptist Camp at Ventura. Races will begin at 4:30 p.m. with the middle school girls.  Races will then follow approximately every 25 to 30 minutes.  The order of races will be: middle school girls, middle school boys, junior varsity girls, varsity girls, junior varsity boys, varsity boys.