Getting aquainted

MOUNT AYR – The cross country regular season couldn’t have been set up for the state qualifier better than it was in Mount Ayr Thursday night.

Perfect weather in the 60 degree range mixed with low wind and a well manicured Mount Ayr Golf and Country Club made for a great meet for teams present to make last minute adjustments and to tune up for next week’s state qualifying meet.

“It was great weather and a beautiful course to run on and all the kids really competed hard today,” said Mount Ayr head coach Deb Larsen.

The field across both sides was not short on talent as on the boys side Class 1A No. 1 Josh Baudler of Nodaway Valley, Class 1A No. 5 Noah Jorgenson of Sidney and Class 1A No. 8 Randy Jimenez of Southeast Warren faced off for some bragging rights before hitting the course for a state bid.

It did not come as a shock to many to see the three names in the top-four. Baudler won the individual title with a time of 16:35.66, Jorgenson was second at 16:51.12 and Jimenez was fourth at 17:12.48. Jorgenson, who was 8-0 individually entering the meet, will face Baudler again next week at their state qualifying meet in Mount Ayr.

Among other area top-10 finishers joining Baudler and Jorgenson is Mount Ayr’s Isaac Timmerman, who placed seventh, running a 17:44.14.

As a team, it was the Nodaway Valley girls who were victorious with a team score of 27. Sidney’s boys team edged Nodaway Valley by six points, scoring 52.

The deep talent for the boys was also met with great talent in the girls race. For the girls, many have been racing each other well past this season, and with experienced runners who know the competition well leading the pack as state qualifiers approach, it may make for an interesting turnout.

The top four of Nodaway Valley’s Sophia Broers and Reagan Weinheimer with East Union’s Gabrielle Valencia and Lenox’s MaKinna Hogan are all familiar with each other, competing as Pride of Iowa adversaries across four sports. The familiarity with each other is both good and bad as the four enter the state qualifying meet pitted against one another.

“It helps because you kind of gauge yourself against your competition as you go through the season,” said East Union head coach Rich Bryson. “(In reference to Gabrielle Valencia) You kind of get used to seeing McKinna Hogan and a couple of Mount Ayr girls. If she’s in front of them she knows she’s running well and if they’re running in front of her she knows they’re running well and she needs to pick it up. You kind of get that feeling of who you need to be around.”

In the pack it was Broers who had the leading time at 20:52.23. Weinheimer followed at 21:38.09 and Valencia was fourth at 21:55.77.

Fellow POI runners MaKayla Jones of Mount Ayr and Hogan were seventh (23:04.81) and eighth (23:07.33), respectively.

Hogan, who has been battled shin problems and now is battling a quad problem, Lenox head coach Curtis Fisher thinks facing the group Thursday night will help her improve in the qualifier.

“I think it will,” said Fisher. “She’s fighting through a quad injury right now and hopefully that’ll heal up for next week. It’s a pretty tough meet, those runners are seemingly always right there with each other and I think it’ll be, at that point, who wants to advance more and who’s going to compete harder.”

Tuning up

While each team and runner was out to win Thursday night, the night was widely considered a tuneup for the impending state qualifier next Thursday.

With several schools (Lenox, Diagonal, Mount Ayr, East Union, Mount Ayr) due to race the exact same course next Thursday, many took advantage of the opportunity to run it for the last regular season race of the year.

With knowledge of the course and local competition fresh in coaches heads, the time in between meets will be used to formulate a gameplan to overcome what will be equal, if not better competition compared to Thursday.

“It’s really great that we get to host it here,” said Larsen. “I’m sure the boys and girls are both glad about that. It’s really important as a cross country runner to know the course, so it’s good for them.”

“I think it’s a good motivator,” said Bryson on the familiarity of both the boys and girls fields. “... Anybody that’s around you, you’re going to get their best effort because they know what you’ve achieved. You have to understand it. ... Don’t fear your competition, respect it.”

Nodaway Valley’s pack of runners took full advantage, placing four runners in the top-15. Toby Bower was eighth at 17:45.94 while Ben Breheny was a step behind his brother Tyler.

Tyler Breheny finished 11th at 18:08.76 and Ben Breheny finished in 18:10.78.

Southwest Valley’s day was nothing short of encouraging as the Timberwolves were led by Adam Harris’ time of 20:53.30 and Aubrey Boswell’s time of 25:01.59.

Racing against state ranked opponents wasn’t important for the Timberwolves. With the season nearing its end, it was about working on themselves.

“At this point of the year we’ve seen everybody multiple times,” said SWV head coach Jason Hults. “We’re just focused if we can run our best times of the year at the end of the season. It’s not a big deal about who we race against, it’s about how we race ourselves.

SWV also had times of 21:48.41 from Blake Venteicher, a 66th place time, and a 25:05.16 from Halley Pearson for 31st. Sydney Westlake was not far behind Pearson at 25:22.75 for 33rd.

East Union’s day on the course was also modest, placing fourth (122 points) on the girls side. No boys score was given for EU.

The times on Thursday for the Eagles is something he wasn’t sure about with short rest, but a history of success in Mount Ayr was on their side.

“We’ve always ran well here. I don’t know what it is about it, it’s later in the season, it’s cooler, the kids like the course,” said Bryson. “We were a little concerned coming out of Pride of Iowa two days ago with only having one day’s rest, but the kids ran great. I always hope we’re peaking at the right time and I think we’re peaking at the right time.”

East Union had a 17th place time from Damon Hayes, running an 18:54.45. Cole Nelson was 28th at 19:45.39 and for the girls, Molly McNeill was 18th at 23:56.98.

Mount Ayr showed up on its home course, placing fourth for the boys (143 points) and third for the girls (81).

“They’re running well as a team,” said Larsen. “Briar Knapp has also moved up and done really well at POI and here. The boys have been working hard, so we’re just happy with what they’ve been doing.”

For the Raiders it was Levi Henry in 19th, running an 18:56.98. Knapp was 22nd with a time of 19:10.69 and Will Newton was 40th at 20:42.49.

Despite being down MaKayla Jones due to a hamstring issue, Larsen feels the Raiderettes had a good showing on its home course without one of its top runners.

“We did great. We got third as a team, so we had (Taylor Clymer) who was running eighth or ninth (on the team) and she stepped up and finished fourth for us,” said Larsen.

Clymer finished with a time of 24:16.61 for 22nd.

For Lenox, Diagonal and Orient-Macksburg, three young programs showed a lot of promise as the season draws to a close and eyes turn towards a state bid.

The Tigers had shown great strides in bettering times and giving max effort, said Fisher.

“We had two of the top boys get personal records,” said Fisher. “Maybe the course sped their times up a little bit, but I thought they ran really hard. ... They really pushed through and we’ve got an opportunity to come back here next week. It was sort of a feel it out day for us.”

The Lenox boys were led by Blake Rychnovsky at 21:21.50 and Mizael Gomez at 22:22.08. The two were nearly step for step, placing 57th and 58th.

“I thought our guys did really well,” said Diagonal head coach Matt Warren. “They both ran their fastest times so far this year and its the right time of the year to be doing that. Hopefully we’ll come back at districts on the same course and improve on those times.”

Diagonal’s two boys runners were Alex Baker and Skyler Stamps. Baker finished 91st at 23:37.53 and Stamps finished 112th in 26:42.05.

For Orient-Macksburg, it was Blake Thompson who had the leading time for the Bulldogs at 36th. He ran a 20:19.03. Tyson Ross was another Bulldog runner to place in the top-50, running a 20:48.14 for 42nd.

O-M’s lone girls runner, Christa Cass, did not run.