Panthers place well at Leon Fox Invite
PERRY — The Creston cross country teams both achieved impressive team finishes at the Leon Fox Invitational here Thursday, as the Panther girls finished second in Class A and the boys finished fourth in Class A.
“There were 23 schools represented, 10 in Class A and 13 in Class B,” head coach Pat Schlapia said. “This kind of gave us a chance to go up against some schools we’ve seen before and some new schools we haven’t. I feel our focus was right there on the money with this meet. This was a major step up intensity-wise. I was very happy with how we ran on both sides.”
The girls placed second to Winterset by just three points — a 68-71 margin — while ADM finished third with 73 points. Class 3A No. 8-ranked Dallas Center-Grimes finished fourth with 104 points.
Maria Mostek led the Panthers with a third-place finish in 15:47, while Emily Wignall also earned a top-15 medal with her ninth-place finish in 16:33.
Freshman Taylor Briley just missed medaling, placing 18th in 17:16. Sophomore Maddie Skarda came in 20th with a time of 17:24, and Madison Hance followed closely behind in 21st at 17:29.
“We’ve talked about closing the gaps,” Schlapia said. “We’re getting closer. We had five girls in the top 21, and with 10 schools, we had all seven girls in the top half. We’re just hoping to get the five scoring girls in the top half, so that was a major accomplishment.”
Freshmen Caitlin McIlravy and Jessica Beatty finished 28th and 35th, respectively, in 17:43 and 18:11.
“Our next wave with Taylor, Maddie and Madison, they’re trying to keep those first two girls in sight there,” Schlapia said. Caitlin and Jessica were just off the mark from them. That’s a real positive.
“That kind of sends a message to Winterset, ADM and to DC-G that we’re going to be right there, also. That opened up quite a few eyes on the other girls and coaches.”
Boys
The Creston boys atoned for losing to ADM, Perry and Winterset at the Ballard meet, by beating all three teams and finishing fourth overall in a competitive field.
The Panthers edged ADM by two points and Perry by three, while beating Winterset by 43 points.
Sophomore Jay Wolfe was the top finisher and lone medalist for the Creston boys, placing 14th in 18:17. Garret Taylor finished 33rd in 18:52.
“He’s been wanting to get under 18,” Schlapia said. “Garret stayed in contact more with him here.”
Brant Hudson moved up into the three-spot for the Panthers, finishing 37th in 19:01.
“Brant Hudson picked up the slack,” Schlapia said. “On Monday, Kruz Adamson picked up the slack for us, and today it was Brant. That’s what is nice with the boys right now, if someone struggles, we’ve got someone else to step up for us. For those boys, that was a nice move getting that fourth spot.”
Zack Peppmeier ran in the four-spot for Creston, finishing 41st in 19:08. Kaleb Cook rounded out the team scoring with a 46th-place finish in 19:16.
Adamson placed 65th in 19:46 and senior Travis Miller placed 82nd in 20:06.
JV
Five Creston girls placed in the top 10 of the junior varsity race, as Micah McCutchan, Taylor Hudson, Jenna Hayes, Katie Stevens and Savannah Hartman all earned top-10 ribbons.
Jacob Wolfe and Evan Nielsen paced the Creston boys JV, finishing 88th and 104th overall. Varsity and junior varsity runners ran together.
“You look at those boys and girls JV times, some big improvements on times,” Schlapia said. “There’s some JV kids that have really improved by leaps and bounds.”
Creston travels to Nodaway Valley on Monday, and to Atlantic on Thursday.
“We talk about running nasty, run more aggressive,” Schlapia said. “Go out there and take every spot you can. The kids are really taking tothat right now. We really need to step it up and the kids are chomping at the bit.”
LEON FOX INVITATIONAL
GIRLS CLASS A TEAM SCORES
1. Winterset 68, 2. Creston 71, 3. ADM 73, 4. Dallas Center-Grimes 104, 5. Perry 129, 6. Bondurant-Farrar 150, 7. Atlantic 167, 8. Boone 201, 9. Saydel 223, 10. Carlisle 257.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Leaders — 1. Madison Waymire, DCG, 15:19; 2. Brianna Mueller, ADM, 15:41; 3. Maria Mostek, Creston, 15:47; 4. Brittany Sawyers, Winterset, 15:47; 5. Dominique Fleming, Winterset, 15:55; 6. Tiffany Williams, Atlantic, 16:15; 7. Jessie Eyerly, Winterset, 16:28; 8. Megan Burger, DCG, 16:30; 9. Emily Wignall, Creston, 16:33; 10. Emily Knuth, Bondurant-Farrrar, 16:57.
Creston — 3. Maria Mostek, 15:47; 9. Emily Wignall, 16:33; 18. Taylor Briley, 17:16; 20. Maddie Skarda, 17:24; 21. Madison Hance, 17:29; 28. Caitlin McIlravy, 17:43; 35. Jessica Beatty, 18:11.
Creston JV — 42. Micah McCutchan, 18:32; 44. Taylor Hudson, 18:42; 48. Jenna Hayes, 18:45; 49. Katie Stevens, 18:47; 53. Savannah Hartman, 18:50; 73. Abbie Cook, 19:21; 84. Amber Castillo, 19:49; 88. Hannah Johnston, 20:00; 91. Brittney Minson, 20:11; 99. Ann Waigand, 20:48; 101. Kelsey Donner, 20:59; 110. Sydney Suiter, 21:40; 118. Carlea Schuler, 22:49; 119. Jessica Drey, 23:01; 124. Corissa Kinkade, 23:42; 125. Itzayanna Rubio, 23:43; 127. Emily Schroeder, 23:59.
BOYS CLASS A TEAM SCORES
1. Boone 23, 2. Dallas Center-Grimes 70, 3. Bondurant-Farrar 98, 4. Creston 156, 5. ADM 158, 6. Perry 159, 7. Carlisle 191, 8. Winterset 200, 9. Saydel 204, 10. Atlantic 207.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Leaders — 1. Chandler Austin, Boone, 16:30; 2. Albert Meier, Boone, 16:48; 3. Josh Kidman, DCG, 17:39; 4. Jacob Running Horse, Boone, 17:42; 5. Tyler Ramus, Bondurant-Farrar, 17:52; 6. Josh Berger, ADM, 17:55; 7. Blaine Phillips, Boone, 17:57; 8. Casey Roberts, Saydel, 18:04; 9. Ben Boesen, Boone, 18:06; 10. Kasey Murphy, Boone, 18:11.
Creston — 14. Jay Wolfe, 18:17; 33. Garret Taylor, 18:52; 37. Brant Hudson, 19:01; 41. Zack Peppmeier, 19:08; 46. Kaleb Cook, 19:16; 65. Kruz Adamson, 19:46; 82. Travis Miller, 20:06.
Creston JV — 88. Jacob Wolfe, 20:29; 104. Evan Nielsen, 20:52; 120. Michael Walsh, 21:45; 121. Tyler Helm, 21:48; 136. Jacob Geary, 22:43; 158. Daniel Scott, 24:23; 159. Kyle Jennett, 24:28; 162. Jeremy Stoll, 25:02; 164. Tyler Shepherd, 25:51; 166. Austin Hurt, 26:20; 172. Elijah Johnson, 32:56.
