Panthers claim O-M meet win

ORIENT — Creston’s girls cross country squad was ready to go on a picture perfect day at Lake Orient and easily took home winning honors as a unit, besting seven other complete area teams.

The victory marked the Panther girls’ fourth straight team win at Orient Lake, with those races coming over the last five years as weather caused last year’s race to be cancelled.

Brielle Baker kept eventual winner Emma Lucas of Bedford, the top-ranked Class 1A runner in the state per the IATC, in her sights for most of the race before finishing runner-up in 21:02, 41 seconds back of Lucas.

“I thought Brielle ran a nice race herself… I thought she ran a real solid number two. You have to be happy with that,” Creston coach Pat Schlapia said.

Braelyn Baker took third, as Paige Davis (ninth), Morgan Buxton (16th), Ali Christensen (18th), Hannah Rounds (24th) and Angelina Chuong (28th) all took spots in the top half of the varsity field.

JV top finisher Brittany Linch finished in front of Chuong and Sydney Pantini finished about one second back of Creston’s last scoring runner.

Nodaway Valley’s Reagan Weinheimer and Sophia Broers took fourth and fifth, respectively.

East Union’s top finish came from Gabrielle Valencia in 13th in 23:24 and teammate Molly McNeill finished in the top third of the field (20th) despite running a significant portion of the race while missing a shoe.

Clayton Stafford was once more the Panther boys’ top finisher as he took fifth in 18:24.

Others at the bottom of Creston’s varsity lineup continue to inch toward the front.

“Devin, this is the best he has finished for us,” Schlapia said, about Baker finishing 29th in a time of 22:08.

The Panthers are feeling good as a team, something that excited Schlapia.

“We had fun last week. We had the home meet. We had a nice Saturday morning practice,” Schlapia said.

Joshua Baudler won yet another race for the NV boys, winning in 17:27, as NV’s top five runners all secured spots in the top 13.

It wasn’t enough for the Wolverines to overtake Earlham, which bested NV by two team points for the title.

East Union’s top boy finished was Cole Nelson in 21st.

O-M honored seniors Andrew Hribal and Noah Nichols with their families after the race.

Boys team scores — 1. Earlham 36; 2. Nodaway Valley 38; 3. Creston 99; 4. Bedford 149; 5. CAM 173; 6. AHSTW 194.

Creston boys varsity results — 5. Clayton Stafford, 18:24; 20. Jared Moreland, 20:41; 22. Levi Hitz, 20:59; 23. Hunter Fry, 21:13; 29. Devin Baker, 22:08; 35. Keagan Trembley, 22:48; 38. Jackson Kinsella, 23:12.

Creston boys JV results — 10. Isaac Shields, 25:48; 11. Tristan Callahan, 26:30; 12. Spencer Lane, 28:00; 13. Isaac Jacobson, 28:45; 14. Adam Short, 31:19.

Area boys individual results — 1. Joshua Baudler, NV, 17:27; 7. Tyler Breheny, NV, 18:40; 8. Ben Breheny, NV, 18:46; 9. Carter Menefee, NV, 19:00; 13. Joel Blazek, NV, 19:25; 16. Toby Bower, NV, 19:51; 21. Cole Nelson, EU, 20:48; 27. Mason Menefee, NV, 21:53; 36. Chance Kiddoo, O-M, 22:50; 40. Kade Klommhaus, Diagonal, 23:46; 45. Damon Hayes, EU, 24:06; 46. Noah Nichols, O-M, 24:09; 48. Skyler Stamps, Diagonal, 24:41; 49. Blake Wuebker, EU, 24:57; 50. Alex Baker, Diagonal, 24:58; 51. Andrew Hribal, O-M, 25:15; 57. Xzander McVay, O-M, 27:39.

Girls team scores – 1. Creston 48; 2. AHSTW 95 ; 3. Earlham 100; 4. Nodaway Valley 131; 5. Exira-EHK 147; 6. Audubon 170; 7. Bedford 184; 8. CAM 221.

Creston girls varsity results — 2. Brielle Baker, 21:02; 3. Braelyn Baker, 21:53; 9. Paige Davis, 22:48; 16. Morgan Buxton, 23:45; 18. Ali Christensen, 24:11; 24. Hannah Rounds, 24:37; 28. Angelina Chuong, 24:57.

Cretson girls JV results — 1. Brittany Linch, 24:45; 2. Sydney Hartsock, 24:58; 3. Sydney Pantini, 26:48; 11. Alison Worthington, 29:08; 16. Sophia Short, 39:58.

Area girls individual results — 4. Reagan Weinheimer, NV, 22:06; 5. Sophia Broers, NV, 22:33; 13. Gabrielle Valencia, EU, 23:24; 20. Molly McNeill, EU, 24:15; 27. Kate Sutton, EU, 24:54; 31. Mallory Kuhns, NV, 25:09; 39. Mattie Riemenschneider, EU, 26:01; 44. Jena Yonker, NV, 27:20; 45. Erin Ford, NV, 27:23; 47. Madison Van Otterloo, NV, 27:51; 52. Ansley Waigand, EU, 28:50; 57. Clarissa Kunkle, EU, 30:11; 64. Maddy Hayes, EU, 33:06.