Home course advantage benefits X-C teams

by Michelle Watson

Home course has its advantage, as the Clear Lake cross country teams learned when they hosted the Clear Lake Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 15.

“The Lions XC team had a great Homecoming meet at All Vets,” said Coach Tyler Havens.  “We had lots of personal records from both teams and we are excited to get to October.”

Girls Race

The girls team couldn’t have done any better, bringing home both the junior varsity and the varsity titles.  Addison Doughan, a sophomore, also brought home the individual title for the varsity team and Lydia Brattrud claimed the top honor for the JV team.

The varsity won the eight team field competition with 35 points, followed by Forest City with 65 and Humboldt with 87.

Doughan won the meet with a time of 19:53.29.  Three more Lion runners finished in the top 10.  Emily McLaughlin ran the course in 21:44.29, good for seventh place, while Anna Feuerbach was right behind her in eighth place with a time of 21:45.58.  Finishing as a pack were Alexis Hauge, 11th place, with a time of 22:05.62 and Jadyn Heesch and Lauren Englin who finished in 12th and 13th place with times of 22:06.75 and 22:27.61  Rebekah Steinbron was 23nd with a time of 23:21.14.  

Hauge and Steinbron both ran personal best times in the race.

The junior varsity girls won the meet by scoring a perfect 15. Clear Lake claimed the top five spots to seal the victory. Three other teams competed in the JV race, with GHV finishing in second with 49 points and Humboldt third with 58 points.

Girls JV Results

•Lydia Brattrud, first, 23:42.66

•Brooklyn Heesch, second, 24:18.81

•Olivia Fausnaugh, third, 24:29

•Allie Olthoff, fourth, 24:33.27

•Alana Evelsizer, fifth, 24:53.78

•Madison Leisure, 14th, 17:16.84

•Emily Benitz, 18th, 27:44.85

•Kristina Miller, 28th, 31:02.56

Boys Race

The boys team finished as runner-up in the meet with 78 points.  Ames, who claimed the top six positions, won the meet with a perfect score of 15 points.  Ames is rated number 16 in Class 4A.  Forest City was third with 85 points.

“This was a great meet for our boys to get to compete with a team as impressive as Ames and we battled well,” said Haven.

Jack Crane paced the Lions with an eighth place finish.  He ran the race in 17:24.02.  

“I think Jack had one of the more impressive races I’ve seen from him, being close to a personal records this early in the season and the competition definitely led to that opportunity,” said Haven.

Leo Tolentino, who finished 11th, was the next to cross the line for Clear Lake in a time of 17:51.35.  Andrew Mixdorf was 16th with a time of 18:34.76.  Marcus Skidmore and Owen Smith finished 21st and 22nd respectively.  Skidmore ran a personal best time of 18.42.73.  Smith ran the course in 18:44.98.  Also running the race was Isaac Smith, 27th, 19:09.48; and Aiden Hippen, 29th, 19:22.60 (personal record).

The boys JV team also finished in second place with 59 points.  Ames finished first with 15 points.  Ames took the first eight spots to seal the win.  Caleb Jones finished in the top 10 in the JV race.

Boys JV Results

•Caleb Jones, ninth, 19:19.76

•Justin Kerr, 17th, 20:17.17

•Ethan Evelsizer, 20th, 20:39.24

•Weston Conway, 21st, 20:42.19

•Hudson Uetz, 28th, 21:15.90

•Cale Stucky, 29th, 21:15.90

•Daniel Steinbron, 35th, 21:27.47

•Colby Archer, 38th, 21:49.60

•Aidan Maneman, 45th, 22:10.48

•Andrew Korenberg, 63rd, 23:02.82

•Cody Hua, 75th, 23:51.95

•Lane Stroup, 90th, 25:21.58

•Ezra Zickefoose, 96th, 26:08.27

•Abraham Clark, 98th, 26:10.66

•Jackson West, 102nd, 26:52.71

•Karsen Evans, 105th, 27:14.32

•Jackson Eden, 111th, 28:01.57