March 29, 2024

Course crowded: Bakers lead field as Creston looks to close gaps

NV boys take first, girls second

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Creston’s girls cross country squad has a gap to close if it will compete with some of the Hawkeye 10’s best toward the end of the season.

The Panthers figured as much out Tuesday at Creston’s annual “Crowd the Course” meet, taking fourth as a team with 120 points, well behind Harlan in first at 41 points.

“It was a loaded meet. This is probably the deepest meet we’ve ever had at the Panther Invitational,” Creston coach Pat Schlapia said.

Brielle Baker (19:56.5) and Braelyn Baker (20:00.4) took third and fifth, respectively, with the elder Baker finishing well in front of her time last year in the home meet in which she ran 20:45.

Schlapia noted how despite the improvement from the latter half of his varsity boys and girls lineups, he’s hammering home the message to his runners that they need to close the gap. Doing so will allow Creston to compete better with the likes of the Harlan, Glenwood and Atlantic.

“We just have a lot of gaps right now. We need to close the gaps,” Schlapia said. “We always talk about our scoring people…being that top half. That’s where we’re going to be challenging for those top team spots.”

Clayton Stafford was the top boys finisher for Creston in seventh as he finished in a time of 17:12.2.

Spencer Lane dropped the most time of any Panther boy from last year’s home race, dropping nearly two and half minutes to a time of 26:43.4.

Angelina Chuong, who finished 52nd among the Class A varsity girls in a time of 23:32.7, was over five minutes better than a year ago.

Out of Creston’s nine girls returners from last year, eight had improved times at the home meet, while six of the seven boys returners saw their times improve this time compared to last year.

“We talked about it in practice that we needed to step up,” Schlapia said. “I thought we did… it was the first time we were able to go up against Hawkeye 10 (opponents).”

He hopes his team gets the message that there’s not as big a gap between JV and varsity as they might think, especially on the girls side.

Schlapia expressed gratitude for the course workers, volunteers, SWCC and Crestmoor Golf Course for the help and hospitality afterward.

“All the people that came out and supported us, thank you,” Schlapia added.

Baudler’s blazing start

Nodaway Valley’s Joshua Baudler won his second race out of the three he has competed in this fall, racing past a group that led him early, as the junior runner continues to impress after taking over the top spot for the Wolverine boys.

His top finish Thursday led NV to win the Class B portion of Tuesday’s race with 41 team points, just ahead of Earlham (45).

Championship gold drove him in the offseason that led to the strong start through three races.

“I knew with Brycen (Wallace), Skyler (Rawlings) and Austin (Lundy) and all the seniors leaving I knew it’d be tough to get that state championship,” Baudler said.

The Wolverines have only been defeated in competition as a team this fall by top-ranked Madrid at Panorama’s meet last Thursday.

With their eyes always set on team championships, Baudler knows there’s plenty of ground to be made up for NV to win a fourth straight 1A boys team title.

“We have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re definitely capable of doing so,” Baudler said.

NV’s girls took second in Class B as a team, led by Reagan Weinheimer and Sophia Broers, who took the top two spots in the smaller class.

(Results from team’s without full squads were not available, example: East Union, Diagonal and Orient-Macksburg)

Class A girls varsity team results — 1. Harlan 41; 2. Glenwood 58; 3. Atlantic 87; 4. Creston 120; 5. Winterset 134; 6. Lewis Central 181; 7. CB Jefferson 182; 8. Shenandoah 212; 9. Chariton 221; 10. Red Oak 269.

Creston girls varsity individual results — 1. Janette Schraft, Glen, 18:27; 3. Brielle Baker, 19:56.5; 5. Braelyn Baker, 20:00.4; 21. Paige Davis, 21:18.8; 46. Morgan Buxton, 22:55.7; 47. Ali Christensen, 23:00.9; 49. Hannah Rounds, 23:16.5; 52. Angelina Chuong, 23:32.7.

Class A girls JV team results — 1. Harlan 35; 2. Glenwood 42; 3. Atlantic 56; 4. Creston 117; 5. Winterset 130; 6. CB Jefferson 142; 7. Red Oak 180.

Creston girls JV individual results — 1. Abby Alberti, Harlan, 21:38.8; 15. Brittany Linch, 23:54.2; 16. Sydney Hartsock, 24:04.6; 19. Sydney Pantini, 24:24.8; 27. Alison Worthington, 25:20.4; 58. Sophia Short, 37:57.4.

Class B girls varsity team results — 1. Earlham 31; 2. Nodaway Valley 63; 3. East Union 94; 4. Mount Ayr 95; 5. Southwest Valley 106; 6. CAM 139; 7. Bedford 179.

Class B girls varsity individual results — 1. Reagan Weinheimer, NV, 20:41.8; 2. Sophia Broers, NV, 21:12.4; 4. Cassidy Nelson, Lenox, 21:57.7; 7. MaKayla Jones, MA, 22:18; 8. McKinna Hogan, Lenox, 22:18.4; 10. Gabrielle Valencia, EU, 22:41.2; 15. Mallory Kuhns, NV, 23:24.1; 18. Sydney Davies, SWV, 23:40.8; 19. Kate Sutton, EU, 23:42; 23. Alexa Smith, MA, 24:09.3; 24. Mazzy Hummel, SWV, 24:10.9; 25. Kaylee Jacobs, SWV, 24:16.2; 26. Molly McNeil, EU, 24:17.4; 27. Erin Ford, NV, 24:19.9; 28. Ryleigh Haveman, MA, 24:24; 29. Rachel Gregg, MA, 24:28.1; 30. Mattie Riemenschneider, EU, 24:33.5; 31. Aubrey Boswell, SWV, 24:45.3; 33. Emma Mobley, MA, 24:50.2; 34. Jena Yonker, NV, 25:23.5; 35. Allivea Skarda, EU, 25:31.5; 36. Madison Van Otterloo, 25:36.5; 37. Sydney Westlake, SWV, 25:43.3; 38. Taylor Clymer, MA, 26:00.9; 39. Maddie Hayes, EU, 26:03.2; 41. Elizabeth Sobotka, MA, 26:19.2; 45. Ansley Waigand, EU, 27:27.3; 48. Bella Johnson, SWV, 28:33.6; 49. Ashton Larson, Lenox, 28:34.6; 52. Allie Cline, Lenox, 29:08.8; 55. Abbie Wetzel, SWV, 30:14.6.

Class B area girls JV results — 1. Rachel Smith, Earl, 24:57.5; 8. Grace Nixon, EU, 28:23.2; 9. Clarissa Kunkle, EU, 28:40.4; 10. Samantha Schaefer, MA, 31:42.8; 13. Triana Gabriel, SWV, 39:46.5.

Class A boys varsity team results — 1. Lewis Central 60; 2. CB Jefferson 66; 3. Glenwood 66; 4. Atlantic 101; 5. Winterset 101; 6. Harlan 158; 7. Red Oak 185; 8. Clarinda 231; 9. Creston 233; 10. Shenandoah 249; 11. Chariton 258.

Creston boys varsity individual results — 1. Trey Gross, Har, 16:45.7; 7. Clayton Stafford, 17:12.2; 39. Jared Moreland, 18:49.4; 59. Levi Hitz, 19:37.4; 61. Hunter Fry, 19:49.7; 67. Keagan Trembley, 20:24.4; 68. Jackson Kinsella, 20:39.3; 71. Devin Baker, 21:12.7.

Class A boys JV team results — 1. CB Jefferson 27; 2. Glenwood 44; 3. Winterset 73; 4. Lewis Central 96; 5. Atlantic 124; 6. Shenandoah 192; 7. Red Oak 199; 8. Harlan 243; 9. Creston 276.

Creston boys JV individual results — 50. Tristan Callahan, 24:38.1; 53. Isaac Shields, 25:41.3; 56. Isaac Jacobson, 26:22.3; 58. Spencer Lane, 26:43.4; 59. Adam Short, 27:20.7.

Class B boys varsity team results — 1. Nodaway Valley 41; 2. Earlham 45; 3. Mount Ayr 79; 4. Bedford 85; 5. Martensdale-St. Marys 110; 6. CAM 170; 7. Clarinda Academy 187; 8. Southwest Valley 245.

Class B area boys varsity individual results — 1. Joshua Baudler, NV, 16:37.7; 2 Isaac Timmerman, MA, 17:02.4; 3. Chase Smith, MA, 17:27.2; 8. Carter Menefee, NV, 17:55.1; 9. Tyler Breheny, NV, 17:55.6; 11. Ben Breheny, NV, 18:12.7; 12. Toby Bower, NV, 18:15.6; 14. Joel Blazek, NV, 18:33.1; 17. Levi Henry, MA, 18:46.1; 22. Scott Driskill, MA, 19:43.9; 29. Mason Menefee, NV, 20:38.5; 35. Joan Trujillo, MA, 21:31.6; 37. Jarrett Webb, MA, 22:05; 39. Tyler Jones, MA, 22:15.9; 45. Blake Venteicher, SWV, 23:08.4; 47. Daniel Kinyon, SWV, 23:21.1; 50. Trent Newton, SWV, 26:16; 51. Sean McCormick, SWV, 27:11; 52. Daniel Maddox, SWV, 28:06.5; 53. Brayden Avila, SWV, 29:10.7.

Class B boys JV individual results — 1. Kaden Frank, Earl, 20:54.6; 2. Lucas Van Otterloo, NV, 21:05.3; 12. Grant Anderson, MA, 23:20.3; 13. Ryker Hickman, MA, 23:27.9; 14. Will Newton, MA, 23:31.7.