PERRY — Conditions and the course at Perry Golf & Country Club lent itself to terrific times for the Creston girls and boys cross country teams at Thursday’s Leon Fox Invitational.
Every Creston runner that stepped on the course, from middle school through varsity, ran their seasons-best times.
“The weather was conducive for an outstanding day of cross country, plus that along with the course, it was nice to see the times we turned in,” said Creston coach Pat Schlapia. “We can’t argue with the improvement we made, even from the Orient-Macksburg meet. Everybody got a pr (personal record) for the season.”
“We’re proud of the way everybody ran.”
Several athletes took a considerable amount of time off their previous season’s best. On the girls side, Allivea Skarda ran her best time by one minute, 47 seconds, finishing in 22 minutes, 52 seconds. Sydney Pantini, on the JV girls race, improve by 2:02 to finish in 26:29. Emma Berning ran 1:57 better than her previous best in the JV girls race to finish in 26:50. On the boys side in the varsity race, Hunter Fry ran his best time by 1:34, finishing in 20:43, while Dawson Smith, on the JV side, ran his best time by 1:36 to finish in 22:26.
Everyone improved their times from Monday’s meet at Orient-Macksburg.
“It was nice to see coming off Orient,” Schlapia said. “We challenged the team to refocus and step it up for the upcoming meets.”
The Panthers are starting to head into the homestretch of the schedule.
“With the calendar turning to October, we need to step up our game,” Schlapia said. “The kids did step it up. It was great. Their enthusiasm and focus was really nice seeing how the girls and boys varsity and JV were pulling for each other, along with the middle school.”
Baker leads girls, Skarda closes gap
Leading the varsity girls was Brielle Baker with a fifth-place finish. Her time of 20 minutes, 32 seconds was easily her best time of the season, by 39 seconds.
Baker contended with the top pack, which included Nodaway Valley’s Reagan Weinheimer, Dallas Center-Grimes’ Sydney Smith and Lexi Smith and Ballard’s Ellie Twedt and Lauren Matthews.
At one point, Baker was in second.
“That was nice for her to get out of her comfort zone,” Schlapia said. “She went out there and challenged them.”
Weinheimer won in 19:50. Sydney Smith was second in 20:05.
Baker continues to grow every meet.
“She’s running with some confidence,” Schlapia said. “She provide she belongs with those group of girls.”
Allivea Skarda was the next Panther to cross the line, placing 27th.
Her time of 22:52 was impressive, Schlapia noted.
“That was her best race of the season,” Schlapia said.
Skarda was able to cut the gap between Baker and her teammates.
“We had a nice talk with the rest of the girls. We wanted to close that gap. It had got up over three minutes. We want our two-through-five-six girls to get that under three minutes. Allivea was able to get that to 2:20. That was nice to see.”
Rachel Shepherd was 33rd and Lexie Little was 34th. Brittany Linch was the fifth Creston runner across the line in 42nd an the 89 girl field.
The Panthers finished fourth with 136 points. Ballard won with 35 points, with Dallas Center-Grimes taking second with 38 points. Winterset was third with 107 points.
Creston was able to trim the gap on Winterset from previous meets.
“The last time we ran against Winterset, they had 50 points on us,” Schlapia said. “The girls not only ran as individuals, but as a team. Cutting the gap down to 29 points shows a lot of promise right there. It was a fine individual and a fine team race by the varsity girls.”
Nodaway Valley boys place second, Irr leads Creston
The boys team race featured two of the top teams regardless of class. Dallas Center-Grimes is second in Class 3A and Nodaway Valley is top-ranked in Class 1A.
The Mustangs, thanks to all five runners placing in the top 12, topped the Wolverines 37-66.
Nodaway Valley had five in the top 19. Shane Breheny led the Wolverines with a sixth-place finish in 16:54. Brycen Wallace was eighth in 17:12. Brayten Funke was 16th in 17:42. Skyler Rawlings was 17th in 17:48 and Tyler Breheny placing 19th in 17:52.
“That was tough as nails with that when you’ve got Dallas Center-Grimes as the number two team in 3A and Nodaway Valley as the number one team in 1A,” Schlapia said. “When you get up there at the state qualifying meet and the state meet, you throw the rankings out the window. But it does give you a measuring stick.”
Creston was led by Ben Irr’s 15th-place finish in 17:31.
Irr ran his seasons-best time by over a minute in claiming the last medal position.
“Ben being able to medal gives you an idea of what kind of competition he was up against,” Schlapia said.
Isaac Wignall was the next Panther across the line, placing 38th in 18:43. Wignall ran under 19 minutes for the first time this season.
“The same thing we’ve harped on with the girls we did with the boys,” Schlapia said. “We wanted to close that gap. Isaac was within 45-50 seconds. That’s nice to see.”
Fry stepped up and was the Panthers third runner.
“Levi Hitz struggled a bit that last mile,” Schlapia said. “Hunter being a freshman knows when you see a guy in front of you struggling you need to pick up the slack and move on up. Hunter did that.”
Creston tied with Perry for 10th. The Bluejays took 10th by virtue of the better sixth runner. Perry’s sixth runner placed 83rd, while Creston’s was 85th.
Schlapia’s young boys team picked up a valuable learning opportunity.
“That’s a lesson for us,” Schlapia said. “Everybody’s important. We were right there, that close. It’s one of those things that no matter where you are on the team, you count the same.”
UP NEXT — Creston’s girls and boys varsity and JV teams are back on the course Thursday at Atlantic. The Atlantic Invitational will feature 28 teams.
Schlapia added that it is a possibly the Panthers will run that same course in Atlantic two weeks later for the state qualifying meet.
Girls team results — 1. Ballard, Huxley, 35; 2. Dallas Center-Grimes, 38; 3. Winterset 107; 4. Creston 136; 5. ADM 180; 6. Roland-Story 181; 7. Madrid 197; 8. Greene County, 207; 9. Boone 213; 10. Bondurant-Farrar 255; 11. Perry 292; 12. Saydel 300; 13. Des Moines North 353.
Creston results — 5. Brielle Baker 20:32; 27. Allivea Skarda 22:52; 33. Rachel Shepherd 23:20; 34. Lexie Little 23:20; 42. Brittany Linch 24:06; 49. Danielle Castillo 24:36.
Nodaway Valley results — 1. Reagan Weinheimer 19:50; 48. Mallory Kuhns 24:26; 63. Madison Van Otterloo 25:56; 80. Peyton Harless 29:34.
Boys team results — 1. Dallas Center-Grimes 37; 2. Nodaway Valley 66; 3. Winterset 114; 4. Bondurant-Farrar 123; 5. Ballard, Huxley, 141; 6. Roland-Story 166; 7. Saydel 180; 8. Madrid 189; 9. ADM 286; 10. Perry 292; 11. Creston 292; 12. Boone 318; 13. Des Moines North 318.
Creston results — 15. Ben Irr 17:31; 38. Isaac Wignall 18:43; 78. Hunter Fry 20:43; 81. Dylan Linch 20:52; 84. Levi Hitz 21:13; 87. Devin Baker 21:43.
Nodaway Valley results — 6. Shane Breheny 16:54; 8. Brycen Wallace 17:12; 16. Brayten Funke 17:42; 17. Skyler Rawlings 17:48; 19. Tyler Breheny 17:53; 22. Matthew Dickinson 18:00; 28. Dallas Kreager 18:19;