Weis, Davis lead Panthers at Clarke Invitational

OSCEOLA — As the regular season winds down, area cross country teams gathered in Osceola Tuesday for the Clarke Inviational at East Lake Park.

Chariton took the win in the boys race with Van Meter winning the girls.

Boys

Hosting Clarke took fifth at the met, Creston coming in sixth and Southwest Valley taking ninth.

The Indians were led by Micah Domina with a 10th place finish in 18:58. Coming in 14th was teammate DeVante Caldwell in a time of 19:34.90.

The Panthers were led by sophomore Owen Weis, running a 20:12.60. The time was just faster than his 20:20 ran last year on this course.

“Owen was our top finisher for the boys team in 22nd,” Creston coach Maggie Arnold said. “We were really looking for a top-15 medal and came up short.”

Anthony Eblen came in next for Creston, finishing 28th in 20:53.10, more than a minute faster than his time last season.

Wyatt Goodenberger and Hector Suazo finished 37th and 38th.

“I was really happy with Hector Suazo’s and Kylen Parsons’s races tonight,” Arnold said. “It was definitely their strongest showing of the season. It’s encouraging to see their paces pick up for this meet.”

Though Lenox didn’t score as a team, Cade Cordell led the pack with a 30th-place finish in 20:57.50.

Matthew Means led the way for Southwest Valley in a 54th place finish.

“Junior Matthew Means ran a new PR to lead the team for the third straight meet,” Southwest Valley coach Jason Hults said. “Junior Sanitago Quintans Pineiro also ran a new PR to finish 57th. If they can continue to push each other and keep getting new PR’s and season best times each meet, it will be exciting to see what they can do at the conference meet in a few weeks.”

For Mount Ayr it was sophomore Braylon Geenwell finishing first, running a 23:27.20 for 61st place.

Girls

Payton Davis came away with the only top-10 finish for area girls, leading the pack for the Panthers.

Davis ran a 23:21.40 to surpass her last year time by nearly five minutes. Finishing next for Creston was Reese Strunk in 24:00.10 for 14th place.

“I thought Payton and Reese ran solid races for the girls team today,” Arnold said. “We learned a lot about what they need to tune up in their races before Atlantic next week.”

The smallest team in the field, the Panthers’ five runners put together a fourth place finish out of the seven complete teams.

Mount Ayr took fifth and Southwest Valley finished sixth. Clarke and Lenox had runners, but did not score in the team race.

Claire Jacobsen led the Indians with a 13th-place finish in 23:58.10.

Anne Newton finished at the top of the Raiderettes in 24:22.50 to place 16th.

Lenox was led by Greenly Ramsey who finished 28th in 26:17.50.

Olivia Kathikar continues to lead the Timberwolves, running a 28:23.90 to take 40th.

“This was a very competitive meet on the girls side, with some very good runners from 2A and 3A schools,” Hults said. “There were only a handful of conference schools there with only Mount Ayr fielding a team score in fifth place, just ahead of us. Overall I was pleased with the effort from all five ladies.”

The Panthers race Thursday at Atlantic.

Creston Stats

BOYS

22. Owen Weis, 20:12.60

28. Anthony Eblen, 20:53.10

37. Wyatt Goodenberger, 21:36.40

38. Hector Suazo, 21:46.40

40. Christian Ahrens, 21:58.70

44. Gabe Hopkins, 22:14.19

53. Allen Kendrick, 22:56.10

55. Kylen Parsons, 23:11.60

94. David Mohr 33:04.00

BOYS TEAMS

1. Chariton - 21

2. Davis County - 71

3. Van Meter - 94

4. I-35, Truro - 94

5. Clarke - 127

6. Creston - 155

7. Southeast Warren - 224

8. Moravia - 238

9. Southwest Valley - 246.

GIRLS

9. Payton Davis, 23:21.40

14. Reese Strunk, 24:00.10

24. Karter Clayton, 25:52.60

30. Gretchen Hoepker, 26:19.30

42. Abby Freeman, 29:04.70

GIRLS TEAMS

1. Van Meter - 23

2. Davis County - 54

3. I-35, Truro - 83

4. Creston - 91

5. Mount Ayr - 115

6. Southwest Valley - 177

7. Chariton - 189.