Creston cross country gets preview of next two weeks
Girls sixth, boys 10th at Trojan Invite
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| Creston cross country runners, from left, Madison Hance, Caitlin McIlravy (front) and Jessica Beatty (background, center) and Orient-Macksburg's Morgan James (right) climb the first hill on the course during Thursday's Trojan Invite in Atlantic. (CNA photo by SCOTT VICKER) |
ATLANTIC — In a preview of the state qualifying meet on the same course and against many of the same teams here Thursday at the Trojan Invite, the Creston girls cross country squad finished sixth overall with 181 points, while the boys team finished 10th with 297 points.
The girls competition at the state qualifying meet on Oct. 18 looks to come down to five teams for the three qualifying spots — Harlan, Shenandoah/Essex, Dallas Center-Grimes, Winterset and Creston.
Thursday, Creston finished fifth out of those five teams, but has beaten both Winterset and Dallas Center-Grimes at points throughout the year.
“This gives us an idea of the work we need to do next week for conference and the following week at state qualifying,” head coach Pat Schlapia said. “We showed we’re in the hunt. We don’t have to have one person make up those points. We can find spots on all seven of our girls we can make up places.”
Overall, boys and girls combined, this meet featured eight ranked teams and 13 ranked runners.
Sophomore Maria Mostek led the Panther girls with a fifth-place finish in 15:41, and will most likely contend for one of the top-10 individual qualifying spots at the state qualifying meet in two weeks.
Senior Emily Wignall finished 22nd overall in 16:26. Freshman Taylor Briley came in 47th with a time of 17:21, followed closely behind by sophomore Maddie Skarda in 55th place, running 17:28.
Freshman Madison Hance rounded out the team scoring for Creston, finishing 64th among 156 runners in 17:45. Fellow freshmen Caitlin McIlravy and Jessica Beatty ran 17:57 and 17:59, respectively, for 71st and 73rd places.
“Overall, with all of them, I’m happy with how we ran,” Schlapia said. “Not only with Maria and Emily being our one-two, it was nice three through seven all got under 18:00, and that is the first time we’ve had them all under 18:00 this year.”
Both Mostek and Wignall earned top-25 medals.
Boys
The Creston boys finished in 10th place in the team standings, led by sophomore Jay Wolfe’s 19th-place finish in 17:51. The race marked the first time Wolfe has dipped below the 18:00 in his career, setting a new personal best.
“Jay medaled for us in that 19th spot,” Schlapia said. “Getting under 18:00 was one of his goals. Now that he’s done that, it gives him the confidence to go even lower.”
Junior Garret Taylor also ran well, finishing 47th in 18:34. Sophomore Brant Hudson once again stepped up and ran third for the Panthers, finishing 66th in 18:54 after working his way up in the field for much of the race.
“What we need to do is have Garret follow Jay’s lead on that and stay in contact,” Schlapia said. “Brant needs to stay with Garret from the get-go.”
Junior Zack Peppmeier and sophomore Kaleb Cook ran side-by-side for much of the race, finishing 87th and 90th, respectively, in 19:13 and 19:14.
Kruz Adamson and Travis Miller finished 100th and 101st out of 180 runners in 19:29 and 19:30.
“It was a breakthrough when Zack, Kaleb, Kruz and Travis got under 20:00,” Schlapia said. “Now, they’re getting in the low-19’s.”
The boys team improved from its 15th-place finish a year ago at this meet.
Junior varsity
The Creston girls JV team finished third in the team scoring, just seven points behind Shenandoah/Essex. Freshman Jenna Hayes led the Panthers in 13th place and Katie Stevens finished 15th.
“I think our girls have a chance to beat Shenandoah/Essex at conference in girls JV,” Schlapia said. “That will be one of our goals.”
The boys team finished 11th. Jacob Wolfe led the JV team, finishing 39th. Michael Walsh finished 65th and Tyler Helm made a big improvement over his time a year ago, finishing 82nd.
“All 23 runners who ran here last year, improved their times from last year’s Atlantic meet on the same course,” Schlapia said. “Some of these JV boys are making great strides from where they were a year ago. This last couple of weeks has really been showing us who wants to get out and compete.”
The Panthers are back in action Thursday at the Hawkeye 10 Conference meet in Shenandoah. It will be the last competition of the season for the JV team.
Orient-Macksburg
Morgan James finished 111th in the varsity girls race for Orient-Macksburg with a time of 18:53.
Jacob Caviness led the O-M boys team, running 20:42 for 148th place. Wyatt Hensley finished 155th in 21:06. Seth White placed 179th in 24:34 and Alex Synacek finished 181st in 27:33.
TROJAN INVITE
GIRLS TEAM SCORES
1. Harlan 67; 2. Shenandoah/Essex 112; 3. Dallas Center-Grimes 115; 4. Winterset 154; 5. Griswold 163; 6. Creston 181; 7. ADM 213; 8. Tri-Center 227; 9. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln 228; 10. Lewis Central 244; 11. Atlantic 292; 12. Glenwood 315; 13. Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson 380; 14. Woodbine 399; 15. Treynor 404; 16. Panorama 408; 17. Denison 440; 18. IKM-Manning 442; 19. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 457; 20. Logan Magnolia 486; 21. Riverside 547; 22. Boyer Valley 640.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Leaders — 1. Rebekah Topham, Griswold, 14:24; 2. Jessica Feldman, Harlan, 15:27; 3. Brittany Sawyers, Winterset, 15:36; 4. Brianna Mueller, ADM, 15:38; 5. Maria Mostek, Creston, 15:41; 6. Dominique Fleming, Winterset, 15:47; 7. Breezy Weaver, Missouri Valley, 15:56; 8. Bailey Kuhl, Harlan, 15:57; 9. Tiffany Williams, Atlantic, 15:58; 10. Megan Maaske, Woodbine, 15:59.
Creston — 5. Maria Mostek, 15:41; 22. Emily Wignall, 16:26; 47. Taylor Briley, 17:21; 55. Maddie Skarda, 17:28; 64. Madison Hance, 17:45; 71. Caitlin McIlravy, 17:57; 73. Jessica Beatty, 17:59.
Creston JV — 13. Jenna Hayes, 18:18; 15. Katie Stevens, 18:20; 24. Monica Powers, 18:41; 31. Savannah Hartman, 19:00; 36. Amber Castillo, 19:15; 47. Abbie Cook, 19:31; 50. Raegen Smith, 19:39; 79. Kelsey Donner, 20:48; 97. Sydney Suiter, 21:28; 108. Jessica Drey, 22:09; 112. Carlea Schuler, 22:32; 118. Corissa Kinkade, 22:59; 125. Emily Schroeder, 24:20; 126. Itzayanna Rubio 24:23
Orient-Macksburg — 111. Morgan James, 18:53.
BOYS TEAM SCORES
1. Shenandoah/Essex 55; 2. Dallas Center-Grimes 91; 3. Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson 100; 4. Harlan 179; 5. Tri-Center 277; 6. Lewis Central 279; 7. Red Oak 281; 8. Guthrie Center 281; 9. Missouri Valley 285; 10. Creston 297; 11. Riverside 307; 12. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln 320; 13. Logan-Magnolia 323; 14. ADM 348; 15. Denison-Schleswig 374; 16. Atlantic 389; 17. Griswold 394; 18. Winterset 398; 19. Panorama 412; 20. Treynor 499; 21. Boyer Valley 555; 22. IKM-Manning 563; 23. Clarinda 568; 24. Woodbine 654; 25. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 708.
INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
Leaders — 1. Josh Prohaska, DCG, 16:52; 2. Sean Skillern, Shen/Essex, 16:56; 3. Philip Sciranko, Harlan, 17:23; 4. Darrian Irlbeck, Tri-Center, 17:25; 5. Brian Collinson, CBTJ, 17:28; 6. Jake Weber, Boyer Valley, 17:29; 7. Matt Powders, CBTJ, 17:33; 8. Josh Kidman, DCG, 17:37; 9. Chris Brace, Harlan, 17:39; 10. Zac McCoy, Shen/Essex, 17:44.
Creston — 19. Jay Wolfe, 17:51; 47. Garret Taylor, 18:34; 66. Brant Hudson, 18:54; 87. Zack Peppmeier, 19:13; 90. Kaleb Cook, 19:14; 100. Kruz Adamson, 19:29; 101. Travis Miller, 19:30.
Creston JV — 39. Jacob Wolfe, 20:47; 65. Michael Walsh, 21:37; 82. Tyler Helm, 21:58; 120. Jacob Geary, 22:45; 144. Daniel Scott, 24:04; 145. Kyle Jennett, 24:05; 150. Tyler Shepherd, 24:37; 151. Jeremy Stoll, 24:39; 164. Austin Hurt, 26:50; 168. Elijah Johnson, 31:35.
Orient-Macksburg — 148. Jacob Caviness, 20:42; 155. Wyatt Hensley, 21:06; 179. Seth White, 24:34; 181. Alex Synacek, 27:33.
