March 29, 2024

Creston’s Baker wins Hawkeye 10 title

Panther girls top Atlantic for third place

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Three weeks ago, Creston’s Braelyn Baker separated herself from Harlan’s Lucy Borkowski in the final 300 meters of the final hill at Crestmoor Golf Club to win the Creston Invitational cross country race.

On Thursday, Baker made her move much earlier to win the Hawkeye 10 girls championship on the same course. Baker won in a time of 19:29.65 for a 33-second margin over Borkowski in second place. The Panther junior ran the course 30 seconds faster than the Sept. 24 home meet, despite some rain-slickened spots on the hills of Crestmoor and the Southwestern Community College campus.

Baker was running even with Atlantic’s Taylor McCreedy in front of the lead pack at the one-mile mark near the SWCC Instructional Center, but opened up a lead by the time they turned to head west toward the golf course.

“I started a little slower in the beginning, then they (other leaders) were going a little slower and I just pushed myself to chase the Gator (guide vehicle) and ran my pace,” said Baker, ranked 20th in Class 3A by the Iowa Track and Field Coaches Association.

McCreedy, who finished ahead of Baker in last year’s conference meet and was ranked as high as eighth earlier in the season, has missed much of the season with a stress fracture and was unable to maintain her spot near the front Thursday. She ended up 14th in 21:12.96.

“At first I was running with Taylor because I figured she would be right up there, but she’s been out and wasn’t at her strongest,” Baker said.

It was Baker’s fourth race victory of the season. A year ago she was fourth in the conference meet, one position behind her sister Brielle, who was a senior on the 2018 team.

“Braelyn is getting stronger with each race that she runs,” Creston coach Pat Schlapia said. “This was quite a statement victory for her. We told the kids this meet is on our home course and we want to own the course. Braelyn owned that race.”

Baker is the first conference girls winner from Creston since Donna Dickinson in 1983, and she is the fifth Creston runner overall to win a league title. Boys winners were Paul Hoff in 1986, Scott Vicker in 2005 and 2006 and Cooper McDermott for three straight seasons beginning in 2013.

Not far behind Baker was Creston’s Paige Davis, who took fifth place in a career-best time of 20:21.09.

“I just tried to keep my eyes on Braelyn,” Davis said. “This is definitely my best placing in (conference). It was a way better race for me than our home meet.”

A third Panther runner medaled as Riley DeGonia finished 19th in the 70-runner field in 21:35.31.

As a team Creston placed third with a score of 90 points. Harlan dominated the girls event with four runners in the top 12 on the way to scoring 40 points. Glenwood was second at 70.

“This is the first time we’ve beaten the Atlantic girls in many years,” Schlapia said. “To get three girls all-conference by medaling in the top 20 is quite an accomplishment. Paige Davis had a goal of making top 10 after running 13th last year and she did that easily by placing fifth. She has a goal of getting back to Fort Dodge for the state meet and she is really focused. Her time improved by 59 seconds from our invitational meet.”

Other Creston girls also improved from previous performances.

“Riley DeGonia improved by over a minute and a half from her best time on our course,” Schlapia said. “And, I thought it was important that Morgan Buxton and Angelina Chuong ran in the top half to help our score and push some other girls down lower on teams we were competing with. That’s the strongest race I’ve seen Morgan run.”

Boys leader

Clayton Stafford led the Creston boys by medaling in 11th place in a time of 17:587.16.

“I got passed by one guy on Mom’s Hill or I would have been 10th,” Stafford said. “I ran it about 30 seconds faster than our home meet.”

Creston boys were 10th among 11 teams with 264 points, five points in front of Shenandoah. Schlapia said it was the first time Creston beat the Shenandoah boys since the Panther state-qualifying team of 2013.

Lewis Central and Harlan tied for the best score of 83 and the Titans claimed the title on the basis of the sixth runner tiebreaker. LC’s sixth runner was 31st and Harlan’s was 47th.

Atlantic was a close third place with 87 points.

“Clayton was battling a Harlan kid for 10th place and that’s a big step up from last year when he was battling an injury and placed 36th,” Schlapia said. “This was a big confidence booster for him.”

Boys individual winner was Bennett Heisterkamp of St. Albert, who is ranked fourth in the state in Class 1A.

Creston JV girls matched the varsity by taking third place as a team with four girls placing in the top 20, led by Autumn Stafford in 15th in 25:13. Others in the top 20 were Mallory Wilson in 16th, Sydney Hartsock in 17th and Sydney Strunk at 19th.

Schlapia said every Creston runner who ran Thursday and also competed in the home invitational in September improved their time from last month.

The Panther coach also praised the work of school staff and volunteers in running the meet efficiently, with awards presented just before dusk on the SWCC campus.

“I want to say a big thanks to all of our volunteers and the people of SWCC and Crestmoor for the use of their facilities,” Schlapia said. “It was also great to see all of the people who came out to cheer us on. I know the volleyball team was able to shorten their practice a little bit to come out and support us. It was great to see so many people out there and it was a good day to run.”

HAWKEYE 10 MEET

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

1. Harlan 40; 2. Glenwood 70; 3. Creston 90; 4. Atlantic 111; 5. Lewis Central 121; 6. Clarinda 179; 7. Shenandoah 180; 8. Red Oak 196; 9. Denison-Schleswig 201; 10. Kuemper Catholic 312; St. Albert (incomplete).

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Medalists — 1. Braelyn Baker, Crest, 19:29.65; 2. Lucy Borkowski, Harl, 20:02.75; 3. Kaia Baker, Harl, 20:15.87; 4. Rachel Mullennax, Glen, 20:20.56; 5. Paige Davis, Crest, 20:21.09; 6. Mayson Hartley, Clar, 20:27.72; 7. Haley Bach, LC, 20:30.40; 8. Claire Miller, D-S, 20:37.96; 9. Ava Rush, Atl, 20:46.56; 10. Liv Freund, Harl, 20:48.11; 11. Emma Hughes, Glen, 20:56.55; 12. Abby Alberti, Harl, 21:00.99; 13. Brecken VanBaale, Harl, 21:04.02; 14. Taylor McCreedy, Atl, 21:12.96; 15. Erin Schultz, Glen, 21:13.37; 16. Brenna Godfread, Shen, 21:15.34; 17. Abi Albertson, Harl, 21:21.11; 18. Ryley Nebel, Glen, 21:26.81; 19. Riley DeGonia, Crest, 21:16.81; 20. Olivia Anderson, Harl, 21:42.06.

Creston — 1. Braelyn Baker, 19:29.65; 5. Paige Davis, 20:21.09; 19. Riley DeGonia, 21:35.31; 31. Morgan Buxton, 22:49.06; 36. Angelina Chuong, 23:27.24; 44. Molly Sickels, 24:14.61; Emma Pantini, 26:05.43.

JV team scores — 1. Harlan 15; 2. Lewis Central 68; 3. Creston 73; 4. Atlantic 111; 5. Denison-Schleswig 127; 6. Red Oak 161; (Glenwood, Clarinda, Shenandoah, Kuemper Catholic and St. Albert incomplete).

Creston JV — 15. Autumn Stafford, 25:13; 16. Mallory Wilson, 25:16.40; 17. Sydney Hartsock, 25:16.99; 19. Sydney Strunk, 25:29; 29. Sydney Pantini, 26:19; 30. Tristen Rice, 26:28; 33. Ashley Reynard, 26:55; 42. Brittany Linch, 29:05.

BOYS TEAM SCORES

1. Lewis Central 83 (tiebreaker 6th runner score); 2. Harlan 83; 3. Atlantic 87; 4. Council Bluffs St. Albert 110; 5. Red Oak 133; 6. Glenwood 137; 7. Carroll Kuemper Catholic 157; 8. Clarinda 182; 9. Denison-Schleswig 206; 10. Creston 264; 11. Shenandoah 269.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Medalists — 1. Bennett Heisterkamp, SA, 16:38.50; 2. Trey Gross, Harl, 16:49.97; 3. Craig Alan Becker, Atl, 17:09.72; 4. Connor Lancial, LC, 17:13.69; 5. Baylor Bergren, RO, 17:32.16; 6. Sam McIntyre, Glen, 17:38.56; 7. Evan Brummer, Atl, 17:39.31; 8. Tyler Putney, KC, 17:40.62; 9. Nathan Sell, LC, 17:45.41; 10 Isaac Jones, Harl, 17:52.76; 11. Clayton Stafford, Crest, 17:58.16; 12. Nathan Rohrberg, Glen, 17:59.28; 13. Michael Pottebaum, KC, 18:03.41; 14. Justin McCunn, RO, 18:04.88; 15. Brad Dennis, Atl, 18:06.60; 16. Leo Flores, D-S, 18:08.06; 17. Ryan Hughes, SA, 18:10.82; 18. Jon McCall, Clar, 18:13.46; 19. Tyler Ruiz, LC, 18:17.69; 20. Brennon Munch, Harl, 18:19.53.

Creston — 11. Clayton Stafford, 17:58.16; 56. Jared Moreland, 19:43.06; 63. Levi Hitz, 20:01.79; 66. Hunter Fry, 20:10.63; 68. Aidan Anderson, 20:19.40; 69. Riley Wipperman, 20:21.97.; 77. Isaac Shields, 22:35.60.

JV team scoring — 1. Lewis Central 22; 2. Glenwood 41; 3. Denison-Schleswig 110; 4. St. Albert 120; 5. Atlantic 123; 6. Shenandoah 164; 7. Harlan 220; 8. Red Oak 233; 9. Carroll Kuemper Catholic 245; 10. Creston 246; (Clarinda incomplete).

Creston JV — 52. Devin Baker, 22:12; 68. Carson Smith, 23:08; 82. Tristan Callahan, 24:34; 106. Spencer Lane, 28:10; 107. Adam Short, 28:59.