July 07, 2025
Local NewsState & National

Third team title for Creston boys

By SCOTT VICKER

Members of the Creston boys cross country team show off their team championship plaque from Monday's Nodaway Valley Invitational. Pictured are front row, from left: Isaac Wignall, Ben Irr, Nick Walsh, Zack Peppmeier, Elijah Johnson and Jeremy Stoll. Middle row, from left: Isaiah Foster, Michael Walsh, Kruz Adamson, Jay Wolfe and Jacob Geary. Back row, from left: Head coach Pat Schlapia, Evan Nielsen, Kaleb Cook, Cooper McDermott, Patrick Normandeau, Brant Hudson and assistant coach Gary O'Daniels. (CNA photo)

GREENFIELD — The Creston boys cross country team rolled a pair of threes here Monday at the Nodaway Valley Invitational.

The Panther boys won the team title for the third straight season at the meet, and in the process, picked up their third team title of the 2013 season.

It’s been at least 25 years since a Creston team has won three meets in one season.

The Panthers edged out a young Nodaway Valley team running on its home course by just three points for the team title. On the girls side, Creston finished second to Class 1A top-ranked Griswold with 84 points, 30 points back of the Tigers.

Injuries

Perhaps the most impressive part of Creston winning its third straight Nodaway Valley Invitational title is the fact the Panthers did so without two varsity regulars.

Senior Garret Taylor was held out of the meet after suffering an ankle injury playing basketball over the weekend, while freshman Ben Irr was scratched at the last minute because of an ankle injury suffered while playing soccer over the weekend.

Those two had been running in the three and four spots for the Panthers this year.

That left the door open for the other members of the team to step up and fill those roles.

“You gotta be pretty happy with how the boys ran, because that was a total team effort with what was presented for the boys today,” head coach Pat Schlapia said. “We’ve been stressing about closing the gap, and we told them this was a chance for them to really step up and fill a spot for us.

“We had some people really step up,” he continued. “I was especially impressed with Isaiah Foster, because we challenged him to go out faster in that first mile, and he did, and here he is in the top 20.”

Foster finished 18th in 19:48 to step up into the third spot for the Panthers behind Cooper McDermott and Jay Wolfe.

McDermott picked up his fourth individual title of the year, pulling away from Mount Ayr’s Noah Larsen with about 1 kilometer to go in the race, winning in 17:28. Larsen crossed in second in 17:50.

Wolfe made a big move in the final 200 meters of the race to help the Panthers in the team race against Nodaway Valley, as he surged past Nodaway Valley’s Shane Breheny for third place in 18:16.

“When you consider a three-point difference, and that being a Nodaway Valley boy, you flip-flop it and that’s a two-point difference right there,” Schlapia said about Wolfe’s pass. “Three-point gap, you can look where any of those guys involved in varsity helped.”

Brant Hudson stepped up to fill the fourth spot for the Panthers, running 20:08 for 24th place, while Kruz Adamson rounded out the team scoring in 30th place, running 20:31.

Nodaway Valley placed four runners in the top eight of the race, but one of the big differences in the team race was Creston’s six and seven runners — Kaleb Cook (42nd) and Isaac Wignall (44th) — both finishing ahead of Nodaway Valley’s fifth runner, as Noah Cooper finished 55th.

“Kaleb and Isaac finished ahead of Nodaway Valley’s fifth guy, and even though they may not have figured into our scoring, they added points to Nodaway Valley’s score,” Schlapia said. “Coach Burmeister, he’s got a pretty strong, young team. I was impressed by what he’s got going right now.”

Girls

The Creston girls team faced the tough task of competing against Class 1A’s top ranked team in Griswold, as well as the top-ranked runner in Class 1A in Griswold’s Rebekah Topham.

Topham cruised to the individual victory in 14:57, leading the Tigers to a 30-point win over the Panthers in the team race, 54-84.

Creston was once again paced by junior Maria Mostek, who ran much of the race in third place behind Topham and Nodaway Valley’s Destiny Scar before finishing fourth in 16:34.

“For a smaller-statured girl, she does much better on a hillier course,” Schlapia said. “She ran very solid. She just ran a whole lot stronger. But, with her running stronger, the rest of the girls need to follow suit, also.”

Taylor Briley finished 12th in 17:28, while Raegen Smith crossed the line in 18:35 for 27th place. Madison Hance finished 28th in 18:42 and Jessica Beatty rounded out the team scoring in 30th place, running 18:45.

Maddie Skarda placed 31st in 18:51 and Jenna Hayes finished 33rd in 18:59.

“When you consider getting second to Griswold, that’s nothing to sneeze at,” Schlapia said. “With some of these smaller schools, there’s some good, heady competition in both individuals and teams.”

Creston also posted individual victories in both JV races, as both Savannah Hartman and Zack Peppmeier claimed their second JV individual titles of the season. Hartman ran 19:20 for the 4K course, while Peppmeier ran 21:23 for the 5K course.

Creston returns to action Thursday at Atlantic. This year, the course has been moved to Atlantic Golf and Country Club. It has been run at Nishna Hills Golf Club in the past.

Area

The Nodaway Valley boys finished second to Creston with 77 points as Breheny, Heath Downing, Brayten Funke and Nate Venteicher all finished in the top eight for the Wolverines.

Scar, meanwhile, finished second to Topham in the girls 4K, running 16:23.

Southwest Valley finished ninth in the girls team standings with 217 points, led by Steph Shuler’s 26th-place finish in 18:32. Mount Ayr finished 10th with 284 points, led by Adrian Richards in 14th place, with her time of 17:32.

The Southwest Valley boys finished eighth with 209 points, ahead of Orient-Macksburg in ninth with 243 points. Mount Ayr finished 12th with 292 points.

Garrett Newton led the Timberwolves with his 25th-place finish in 20:09, while Jesse Johnson paced the Bulldogs with a 13th-place finish in 19:40.

Larsen finished second to Creston’s McDermott in 17:50 to lead Mount Ayr.

Nodaway Valley Invitational

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

1. Griswold 54, 2. Creston 84, 3. West Central Valley 108, 4. Exira/EHK 134, 5. Adair-Casey 160, 6. Clarinda 176, 7. Interstate 35 182, 8. Bedford 199, 9. Southwest Valley 217, 10. Mount Ayr 284, 11. Pleasantville 371.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Leaders — 1. Rebekah Topham, Griswold, 14:57; 2. Destiny Scar, Nodaway Valley, 16:23; 3. Holly McKinney, I-35, 16:33; 4. Maria Mostek, Creston, 16:34; 5. Charissa Mogler, 16:34; 6. Alyx Flippin, Griswold, 16:55; 7. Sarah Cabeen, Clarinda, 16:57; 8. Kaylee Miller, Southeast Warren, 17:00; 9. Leah Lappe, Griswold, 17:07; 10. Cheyenne Hiatt, I-35, 17:18.

Creston — 4. Maria Mostek, 16:34; 12. Taylor Briley, 17:28; 27. Raegen Smith, 18:35; 28. Madison Hance, 18:42; 30. Jessica Beatty, 18:45; 31. Maddie Skarda, 18:51; 33. Jenna Hayes, 18:59.

Creston JV — 1. Savannah Hartman, 19:20; 2. Caitlin McIlravy, 19:45; 5. Rachel Shepherd, 20:34; 6. Ann Waigand, 20:47; 7. Cora Green, 20:54; 10. Angela Drey, 21:38; 12. Madison Callahan, 21:44; 15. Abbie Cook, 22:35; 16. Jessica Drey, 23:14; 17. Leah Schuler, 23:27; 18. Sydney Suiter, 24:08; 19. Itzayanna Rubio, 25:05.

East Union — 11. Emma Harper, 17:23; 29. Jena Proffitt, 18:43; 66. Hannah Bartlett, 21:17.

Lenox — 37. Rebekah Kroese, 19:13.

Mount Ayr — 14. Adrian Richards, 17:32; 63. Naomi Richards, 21:08; 78. Megan Warin, 22:20; 84. Neesie Brand, 22:44; 90. Christiana Overholtzer, 23:35.

Nodaway Valley — 2. Destiny Scar, 16:23; 74. Cheyenne Wenstad, 21:57; 98. Shelby Nupp-Holder, 24:46.

Southwest Valley — 26. Steph Shuler, 18:32; 43. Diana Berggren, 19:45; 55. Darien Keefe, 20:47; 56. Chloe Keefe, 20:48; 68. Aunica Harvey, 21:18; 80. Christine Shipley, 22:27.

BOYS TEAM SCORES

1. Creston 74, 2. Nodaway Valley 77, 3. Van Meter 98, 4. Clarinda 146, 5. Griswold 146, 6. Interstate 35 168, 7. West Central Valley, 205, 8. Southwest Valley 205, 9. Orient-Macksburg 243, 10. Southeast Warren 250, 11. Pleasantville 266, 12. Mount Ayr 292, 13. Clarinda Academy 324.

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Leaders — 1. Cooper McDermott, Creston, 17:28; 2. Noah Larsen, Mount Ayr, 17:50; 3. Jay Wolfe, Creston, 18:16; 4. Shane Breheny, Nodaway Valley, 18:18; 5. Austin Dunbar, Van Meter, 18:32; 6. Heath Downing, Nodaway Valley, 18:43; 7. Brayten Funke, Nodaway Valley, 19:04; 8. Nathan Venteicher, Nodaway Valley, 19:08; 9. James Orf, Van Meter, 19:20; 10. Shawn Murphy, West Central Valley, 19:26.

Creston — 1. Cooper McDermott, 17:28; 3. Jay Wolfe, 18:16; 18. Isaiah Foster, 19:48; 24. Brant Hudson, 20:08; 30. Kruz Adamson, 20:31; 42. Kaleb Cook, 21:07; 44. Isaac Wignall, 21:12.

Creston JV — 1. Zack Peppmeier, 21:23; 2. Evan Nielsen, 21:35; 3. Michael Walsh, 21:40; 4. Jacob Geary, 22:08; 6. Nick Walsh, 23:13; 9. Patrick Normandeau, 23:59; 11. Jeremy Stoll, 24:41; 25. Elijah Johnson, 34:08.

East Union — 38. Gabe Nixon, 20:56; 58. Robert Smith, 21:57; 91. Casey Walter, 24:14.

Lenox — 67. Daniel Boschee, 22:30.

Mount Ayr — 2. Noah Larsen, 17:50; 11. Jack Jones, 19:32; 87. Clint Bounds, 23:39; 104. Quintin Chumbley, 25:45; 118. Heath Andresen, 31:17.

Nodaway Valley — 4. Shane Breheny, 18:18; 6. Heath Downing, 18:43; 7. Brayten Funke, 19:04; 8. Nathan Venteicher, 19:08; 55. Noah Cooper, 21:49; 62. Matthew Dickinson, 22:08; 89. Ben Freese, 23:55; 100. Zach Van Horn, 25:17; 111. Dakota Ernst, 27:30.

Orient-Macksburg — 13. Jesse Johnson, 19:40; 48. Cameron Walker, 21:20; 57. Wyatt Hensley, 21:54; 70. Morgan Spurrier, 22:47; 74. Owen Hensley, 22:55; 81. Keaton Wambold, 23:27

Southwest Valley — 25. Garret Newton, 20:09; 26. Lane Peterson, 20:17; 43. Southwest Valley, 21:09; 64. Quinten Oldenkamp, 22:16; 65. Connor Haggerty, 22:17; 71. Quintin Wilcoxson, 22:50; 92. Evan Baldwin, 24:24; 99. Christoph Hinterkopf, 25:16; 206. William Roberts, 26:12; 107. Trevor Holbrook, 26:34; 110. Mike McCormick, 27:28; 112. Charlie Marina, 27:36.