Boys claim title; girls earn runner-up honors

The Clear Lake boys earned their third straight team title competing at the Newman cross country Invitational Tuesday, Aug. 30.  The Lions had 45 points, easily outdistancing Forest City and Newman, who each tied for second with 93 points. Forest City was award second place based on a tiebreaker. 

“I’m proud of how these guys competed,” said Coach Tyler Havens.  “We were racing pretty tired, but still knew we needed to put big points on the competition to keep our number 15 spot in the Class 3A rankings.”

Leo Tolentino and Jack Crane had Clear Lake’s best finishes, finishing sixth and seventh respectively in times of 18:25. 24 and 18:40.98.  Jaden Wright came in 10th in 19:02.25, followed by Andrew Mixdorf, 12th in 19:18.04. Aiden Hippen was 20th in 19:56.93.

Also running for the Lions was Marcus Skidmore, placing 23rd in 20:04.02, and Owen Smith, 33rd in 20:37.75.

  The remainder of team standings included: Garner-Hayfield-Ventura (109), Lake Mills (133), Osage (168), North Butler (172), and Central Springs (201).

Girls race

Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR won the girls team title with 42 points.  The 14th ranked Clear Lake girls were runner-up with 52 points. 

“We were without usual top five contributors Anna Feuerbach and Reese Brownlee,” noted Coach Havens.  “We had a quick turnaround after our opener at Iowa Falls. It was a warm day and the course isn’t very fast, which led to some slower times from Iowa Falls, but we know how to gauge that and there are other metrics we can use to improve how we compete.” 

Addison Doughan paced the Lions.  She was third in 20:36. Nakia Ollivierre of IFA/AGWSR won the race with a time of 19:50 and Katelyn Johnston, of Osage, was second in 20:04. 

Emily McLaughlin was seventh for the Lion in a time of 22:22.69, followed by Alexis Hauge, 11th in 23:18.24. Jayden Heesch and Lauren Englin rounded out the team scoring by placing 16th and 17th respectively in 23:47.53 and 23:51.18.

Also running for the Lions was Rebekah Steinbron, 19th in 24:24.73, and Lydia Brattrud, 32nd, 25:19.67.

North Iowa finished third with 125 points, followed by Forest City (126), Osage (140), Newman (145), Garner-Hayfield-Ventura (148), Central Springs (164), Lake Mills (238), West Hancock (267) and St. Ansgar (269) points.

Junior Varsity

The Clear Lake girls captured the junior varsity title with 31 points.  They topped Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR with 44, Garner-Hayfield-Ventura with 49, and Osage with 101.

Lion runners claimed third through sixth place, as Olivia Fausnaugh was third in 26:10.50, Brooklyn Heesch fourth in 26:24.49, Alana Evelsizer fifth in 26:41.93, and Allie Olthoff sixth in 27:12.74.  Emily Benitz placed 13th in 28:54.34. Other placements included Maddie Leisure, 16th in 30:28.10, and Kristina Miller, 26th in 33:30.05.

The JV boys were also winners.  The Lions scored 19 team points to easily outdistance Forest City with 71. Newman Catholic and GHV each scored 75; Newman was awarded third on a tiebreaker.

Individually for Clear Lake, Isaac Smith and Caleb Jones were first and second in 20:42.58 and 20:46.24.  Ethan Evelsizer and Weston Conway were fifth and sixth in 21:34.20 and 21:40.55.  Placing seventh through ninth was Andrew Korenberg in 22:08.58, Cale Stucky in 22:23.54, and Daniel Steinbron, 22:31.57.

Also running for the Lions was: Liam Byrnes, 13th, 22:59.0; Colby Archer, 17th, 23:22.31; Ethan Gansen, 22nd, 24:02.86; CJ Varner, 29th, 25:01.22; Cody Hua, 35th, 25:26.50; Lane Stroup, 40th, 27:43.79; Karsen Evans, 41st, 27:50.55; Ezra Zickefoose, 43rd, 28:33.83; Abraham Clark, 47th, 30:53.91; Jackson Eden, 49th, 31:45.95.