Champs Again: Wolverine boys, Winkelmann collect POI hardware

Nodaway Valley/OM captured its second boys cross country team conference title in a row, which adds another in a long list of championships from the past, last Tuesday at the Pride of Iowa Conference Championships at the Greenfield Country Club.

The Wolverines needed 26 points to get the commanding win, followed by Central Decatur with 66.

Gabe Winkelmann paved the way for the team as individual champion for the second year in a row. The sophomore crossed the finish line in 17 minutes, 29.24 seconds.

“Coach told me to plan on going just a little bit slower and to just get the win, but I kind of wanted to push my time today and see how I could do. It felt pretty good during the run, so I just went for it,” Winkelmann said.

The temperature was much cooler at the conference meet than it had been at previous races.

“The weather definitely made it easier for me to breathe, but there was some wind on part of it that ruined it for me, but overall, I’d say it was a pretty good race breathing-wise,” Winkelmann added.

Supporting Winkelmann as other top-10 finishers was Luke Kading in fifth (18:34.17), Paul Kading in sixth (18:44.11) and Cherubim Mercado in ninth (19:07.59).

Josh Nelson was 11th (19:28.51), Everett Ehler 13th (19:46.39) and Trevyn Colton 18th (20:49.60).

The runner-up Cardinals had Beau Waugh (3rd, 18:11.03) and Blake Tedford (10th, 19:20.03) as top-10 finishers. Others in the top 10 included Isaiah Wheeldon of Martensdale-St. Marys in fourth (17:53.74), Brock Driskill of East Union fourth (18:22.53), Braylon Greenwell of Mount Ayr seventh (18:52.00) and Raiden Jimenez of Southeast Warren eighth (19:04.76).

The girls race was between three schools that had complete teams and it went easily to Martensdale-St. Marys. The Blue Devils had four of the top five spots, scoring 23 points to second-place Wayne’s 46.

Freshman Abby Nelson placed ninth with a time of 23:24.33 to lead the Wolverines.

“With the wind today and my mind, I think my time was 30-45 seconds off from what I wanted and a minute or two slower than my PR,” Nelson said. “My freshman year has been about what I’ve expected. I haven’t PR’d as much as I wanted to. I think I need to be running in the 21s to make it to state so I’m going to try really hard for it.”

Rounding out the Wolverines’ lineup were Kaylee Van Horn in 22nd (26:41) and Kenzie Lilly in 31st (30:22.73).

“I am super proud of the kids,” Wolverines’ head coach Brooke Wilson said. “They all ran really well.”

Karson Oberender (19:24.28) and Maclaine German (20:05.22) were first and second, respectively, for MStM. Kinsey Prunty of Wayne (21:45.72) was third, Addison Junker (21:58.59) of Lenox fourth, Addison Doolittle (21:59.67) of Mount Ayr fifth, Penelope Wearmouth (22:02.81) and Elizabeth Moore (22:08.74) of Martensdale-St. Marys sixth and seventh, Taylor Leahy (23:17.88) of Central Decatur eighth and Aubri Perkins (23:31.30) of Central Decatur 10th.

NV/OM learned last week its Class 1A state qualifying site for this Thursday is Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center High School in Guthrie Center. The meet starts at 4 p.m. The top 10 runners and top two teams from the state qualifying meet advance to the Class 1A state championships Saturday, Nov. 1 in Fort Dodge.

With the Wolverines there will be AC/GC, AHSTW, Boyer Valley, CAM, East Mills, Exira-EHK/Audubon, Heartland Christian, IKM-Manning, Logan-Magnolia, Missouri Valley, Newell-Fonda, Oakland Riverside, St. Albert, Tri-Center, West Monona, Westwood, Whiting and Woodbine.