Breheny, NV boys take care of business at home

GREENFIELD — Nodaway Valley senior Shane Brehemy wanted his final tour around the Greenfield Country Club to be a special one.

The Wolverines standout was pushed throughout the race by teammate Brycen Wallace and Griswold’s David Thompson, as the three were stride-for-stride toward the latter part of the race.

Breheny had enough left in his gas tank to pull away down the stretch for the win in 17 minutes, 41 seconds. Thompson edged Wallace by two seconds, 17:51 to 17:53 for second in the race held at the Greenfield Country Club.

“Being my last home meet, I wanted to win it,” Breheny said. “That’s’ what pushed me down the stretch. I feel like I had a good meet today.”

He ran against a familiar foe in Thompson.

“We ran some this summer. He was pushing me,” Breheny said.

Having the support of the Nodaway Valley faithful encouraged Breheny on.

“I’m excited about my finish in my last home meet in front of the home crowd,” Breheny said

Breheny’s battled a foot injury of late.

That didn’t slow him down on his home course.

“I’ve been taking it easy in practice,” he said. “It really hurt on the downhill. Uphill it didn’t bother me so much.”

Wolverines coach Darrell Burmeister has adjusted Breheny’s workouts accordingly.

“We’ve had to back off Shane’s workouts with a foot injury,” Burmeister said. “We have to be careful with him, rest him more. He’s got the mileage in. We’ll take it day-by-day, make sure he’s ready on race day.”

Breheny is a key member of the Class 1A top-ranked team and will be heading into the stretch run.

“We need Shane to be in the top five at state if we’re going to win it.”

Breheny was not only pushed by Thompson, but by teammate Brycen Wallace.

Wallace and Thompson went at it down the stretch, with Thompson edging Wallace by two seconds for third.

Wallace, Breheny and Thompson were all within a stride or two of each other at different points in the 3.1 mile race.

“It keeps you going, then you can have a friendly competition against them,” Wallace said. “You know you can run with him and he with you. You keep battling throughout the race.”

Wallace stepped up to push Breheny.

Brayten Funke was sixth for the Wolverines. Nodaway Valley had seven in the top 12.

“Brycen picked it up,” Burmeister said. “Brayten ran well. We had a good pack run.”

Placing so well showed the depth of this year’s Wolverines team.

“With 14-15 teams and over 200 runners, having seven in the top 12 — we’ve got to be satisfied with that,” Burmeister said.

The Wolverines put on a quality showing for the Nodaway Valley faithful. Nodaway Valley won with 25 team points. Earlham was second with 90 points.

“We had great community support,” Burmeister said. “It was great to see new people out here, see the volleyball team and the football team. These guys work hard. It was nice for the community to recognize them.”

Mount Ayr’s boys were led by Chase Smith’s 22nd-place finish.

Southwest Valley’s boys were led by Connor Haggerty’s 30th-place finish.

“Connor had a tough start to the race, but fought his way back and ran a solid time, while finishing as the top boy’s Southwest Valley runner,” Sussman said.

East Union’s boys were led by Cole Nelson’s 57th-place finish.

Weinheimer dominates the NV girls race

Nodaway Valley’s Reagan Weinheimer had a bit of a slip up at the Audubon meet earlier this season.

She tripped and fell near the one-mile mark leading to a seventh-place finish and dropping out of the latest set of individual cross country rankings.

Weinheimer has roared back since.

She dominated her home course, rolling to a 42 second win in 20:52. Earlham’s Eva Fisk was second in 21:34 and Southeast Warren’s Elise Emmick was third in 21:49.

“I just tripped at that race,” Weinheimer said. “I’ve been more motivated to do better.”

Weinheimer learned her lesson about taking command of a race from the opening steps.

“She increased her lead throughout the meet,” Burmeister said. “The key is she gets off to a good start, but is she increasing her lead? It started at 15 seconds at a half mile. It was up to 30 seconds and ended up about 45 seconds. Things are looking good.”

She took command of this race early and left the rest of the field chasing her the rest of the way.

“My goal was to get a decent time and make sure I beat any girls that were in contention for first,” Weineheimer said. “I had a pretty good race.”

Weinheimer bested not only the field but the challenging hills at the Greenfield Country Club.

“I felt like I handled them pretty well,” Weinheimer said. “I could’ve gone down the downhills faster, but I did good.”

Diagonal’s Maddie Lohmann continued her strong season with a fifth-place finish in 22:36.

The hilly course tested Lohmann.

“It was really hard for me,” Lohmann said. “I’m not the best on hills. I tried to use the downhills more than the uphills.”

Lohmann hasn’t always had someone to run with during her races.

This time she had company throughout the 3.1 mile course.

“It was nice to have someone pace me most of it,” Lohmann said. “Sometimes I run by myself. It’s hard to pace myself when there’s no one around me. I had a couple people with me. That helped me out.”

Lohmann’s time of 22:46 was better than what she ran a week ago on a relatively flat course at Orient-Macksburg.

“That was a way easier course than this one,” Lohmann said. “This one was tougher than expected. I was hoping to get something in the 23s, but I got in the 22s, so that was good.”

East Union’s Jena Proffitt was sixth in 22:53.

This was her first time running on the 5K course at Greenfield.

The hills were a challenge, she noted, but not overwhelming.

“It was tough, but we have a really hilly course back home,” Proffitt said. “We’re used to running the hills all the time, so it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been.”

Chasing Weinheimer drove the pack.

“She motivates me to do better,” Proffitt said. “It is nice to see her up there and do better.”

The Eagles’ Emma Harper continues to recover from an illness that knocked her out of action earlier this season.

The three-time individual state meet qualifier showed good form in finishing 15th.

“It’s been a long road to recovery for sure,” Harper said. “Right now I’m just working on getting that time back up, getting some more miles, getting a little more conditioning to make sure I’m in shape for conference and districts.”

She left Greenfield a bit more sore than after her most recent outing Thursday at Chariton.

“I felt a lot better there than here,” Harper said. “This course was rough on me. I made it through. A couple of spots I had to slow down. Finishing is more important. I survived today and pushed through it.”

Southwest Valley was led by Maslyn Hummel’s 13th-place finish. Elizabeth Fuller was 14th.

Hummel was back on the course after missing the Clarke meet with an illness.

“Mazzy looked great today. She has completely recovered and is poised to run her best times over the next couple weeks,” said Southwest Valley coach Josh Sussman.

Fuller enjoyed a solid race as well to earn a medal.

“Elizabeth Fuller ran her best race of the season,” Sussman said. “She is also in a position to run great times over the next couple weeks. Both girls earned medals by finishing 13th and 14th respectively. I am very proud of both girls. They take training seriously and are committed to improving.”

Mount Ayr was led by Rachel Gregg’s 26th-place finish.

Girls team scores — 1. Griswold 60; 2. East Union 100; 3. Woodward-Granger 138; 4. Earlham 141; 5. West Central Valley 156; 6. Interstate 35 210; 7. Clarinda 217; 8. Mount Ayr 219: 9. Southwest Valley 229; 10. Pleasantville 298; 11. Van Meter 319.

Area results — 1. Reagan Weinheimer (NV) 20:52; 5. Maddie Lohmann (DIAG) 22:46; 6. Jena Proffitt (EU) 22:53; 13. Maslyn Hummel (SWV) 24:15; 14. Elizabeth Fuller (SWV) 24:15; 15. Emma Harper (EU) 24:31; 18. Mallory Kuhns (NV) 24:47; 24. Sydney McFee (EU) 25:43; 25. Allison Hadley (EU) 25:49; 26. Rachel Gregg (MA) 25:53; 30. Molly McNeil (EU) 26:18; 36. Madison Van Otterloo (NV) 26:46; 39. Caylie Hickman (MA) 27:01; 44. Elizabeth Sobotka (MA) 27:10; 45. Cortney Gross (OM) 27:13; 51. Kamy Smelser (MA) 27:25; 52. Kate Sutton (EU) 27:28; 59. Gabby Hunke (MA) 27:56; 62. Diana Bergren (SWV) 28:21; 65. Grace Hall (DIAG) 28:31; 68. Kaylee Jacobs (SWV) 28:36; 72. Bella Johnson (SWV) 29:00; 77. Hallie Still (MA) 29:59; 78. Chloe Keefe (SWV) 30:10; 82. Samantha Schaefer (MA) 30:36; 83. Megan Warin (MA) 38:08. 84. Stephanie Davidson LEN) 30:46; 90. Jaida Claussen (NV) 31:44; 91. Cassie Brand (MA) 32:05; 92. Kendra Kirkland (EU) 32:18; 95. Cameo Walker (OM) 32:33; 98. Hannah Brown (LEN) 33:13; 101. Sara Winemiller (MA) 34:03; 102. MaiLynn Taylor (MA) 34:49.

Boys team results — 1. Nodaway Valley 25; 2. Earlham 90; 3. West Central Valley 116; 4. Interstate 35 155; 5. Martensdale-St. Marys 200; 6. Mount Ayr 201; 7. Griswold 204; 8. Clarinda 211; 9. Woodward-Granger 229; 10. Southeast Warren 262; 11. Southwest Valley 281; 12. Bedford 309; 13. Van Meter 327; 14. Pleasantville 335.

Area results — 1. Shane Breheny (NV) 17:41; 3. Brycen Wallace (NV) 17:53; 6. Brayten Funke (NV) 18:20; 7. Skyler Rawlings (NV) 18:42; 9. Tyler Breheny (NV) 18:54; 10. Matthew Dickinson (NV) 18:54; 12 Dallas Kreager (NV) 19:41; 15. Joel Blazek (NV) 19:33; 16. Joshua Baudler (NV) 19:36; 22. Chase Smith (MA) 19:58; 24. Isaac Timmerman (MA) 20:03; 30. Connor Haggerty (SWV) 20:23; 34. Will Hunt (MA) 20:34; 38. Jesse Johnson (NV) 20:42; 51. Dustin Finck (NV) 21:53; 52. Austin Lundy (N) 21:16; 55. Dalton Davis (SWV) 21:28; 57. Cole Nelson (EU) 21:34; 58. Josh Restuaro (MA) 21:36; 60. Lyndon Bright (SWV) 21:41; 79. Tyler Hoover (SWV) 22:46; 81. Will Young (MA) 22:47; 83. Jacob Kinyon (SWV) 22:51; 91. Tyler Jones (MA) 23:11; 92. Juan Trujillo (MA) 23:14; 98. Wyatt McAlpin (SWV) 23:35; 99. Heath Andresen (MA) 23:42; 101. Guerillmo Men (SWV) 24:07; 102. Chris Fannon (SWV) 24:07; 104. Trent Newton (SWV) 24:09; 109. Grant Anderson (MA) 24:33; 111. Andrew Hribal (OM) 24:40; 115. Phillip Currin (SWV) 24:47; 117. Jhordan Montiel (LEN) 24:49; 118. Camren Solari (SWV) 24:59; 122. Chandler Green (NV) 25:09; 126. Alex Evans (EU) 25:50; 130. Connor Eaton (MA) 26:09; 136. Zane Hollingsworth (SWV) 26:59; 137. Sean McCormick (SWV) 27:14; 138. Vinh Nguyen (OM) 27:24; 143. Dawson Goodrich (EU) 29:54; 145. Dakota Ernst (NV) 30:31; 147. Folk Sangwanwarawut (DIAG) 38:12.