Boys place fourth in Glenwood

GLENWOOD — The Panthers saw a race filled with Hawkeye 10 competition Saturday in Glenwood, facing a majority of the 11 conference schools over the weekend.

Both teams faced runners from Harlan, Lewis Central, host Glenwood, Atlantic, Shenandoah, Kuemper Catholic, Clarinda, Red Oak and St. Albert.

The Panthers fared well against their conference rivals, bringing home three medalists and a fourth-place finish for the boys team.

“The Panthers were able to avenge a loss to Shenandoah from earlier in the week,“ coach Maggie Arnold said. ”The team is racing well and taking their training very seriously. It will be fun to watch them continue to grow this season.”

Freshman Ryder Baird and junior Wyatt Goodenberger came across the finish line neck-and-neck for the second meet in a row. This time, Baird was the first Panther across, placing seventh overall with 16:47.58, a time almost a minute faster than his debut Aug. 26.

Goodenburger followed less than three seconds behind for an eighth-place finish and a time of 16:50:01, a new PR by 25 seconds.

Other scorers for the varsity team included freshman Matthew Warner with 17:55.43 (21st), sophomore Merrick Wieland with 18:32.72 (31st) and sophomore Austin Jondle with 20:20.34 (56th). Junior Johnathon Henry ran 21:40.60 (83rd) and junior Jameson Hanson finished in 25:04.33 (125th).

Lewis Central won the meet with runners claiming first and second place and an overall score of 70. Creston took fourth with 123 points and an average run time of 18:05.22.

The girls team was short handed again, with only four members running. The Panthers saw two place in the top 20, with junior Reese Strunk taking ninth and sophomore Cora Smith landing at 19th.

“Reese Strunk was the lone medalist for the girls team. She ran an outstanding race to finish ninth,” Arnold said. “Her splits are looking much better from the first meet of the season. We’re going to continue working those splits in our training with the entire team.”

Strunk ran close to her PR from last year with a 20:37.00, just 22 seconds longer. Smith took her top-20 place with a time of 21:38.57.

Other runners were freshman Sarah Siders, placing 30th with a time of 22:50.52, and senior Abby Freeman, placing 57th with a time of 24:39.47.

The team returns to action tomorrow afternoon with the Wildcat Classic at West Central Valley.