Clear Lake cross country team competes in NCC Meet

(Above) Jacob Pedelty leads a pack of Clear Lake runners including Jack Crane and Leo Tolentino and behind them is Roman Gabrielson. The boys team placed fourth at the meet. -Submitted photo

By Michelle Watson

The Clear Lake cross country team competed in the North Central Conference meet on Thursday, Oct. 17, at NIACC.  Despite the cold and windy conditions, the Lions had a lot of positive take-aways.

Boys

The boys team placed fourth in the NCC meet with 87-points. Eight teams competed. Humboldt won the meet with 29-points, followed by Webster City with 63 and St. Edmond with 78.

Justin Wright earned All-Conference honors by placing fourth with a time of 17:31.

Jacob Pedelty also had a successful meet, running his fastest race of his career. Pedelty placed 18th with a time of 18:52.  Right behind him was Andrew Mixdorf, who placed 19th with a time of 18:58.

Rounding out the team was Leo Tolentino, 21st, 19:00; Christopher Molander, 25th, 19:17; Jack Crane, 26th, 19:19; and Roman Gabrielson, 28th, 19:29.

“All the underclassmen, including Andrew, Christopher, Jack, Leo and Roman, all ran at, or near their season best times,” said Coach Nick DiMarco.

Girls

The girls placed sixth in the eight-team field with 155-points.  IFA-AGWSR won the meet with 50-points.  St. Edmond and Algona tied for runner-up honors with 70-points.  Humboldt was third with 71-points.

Jadyn Heesch and Kaylee McCarl both finished in the top 25 and both ran career best times at the meet.  Heesch finished in 13th place with a time of 22:23.  McCarl was 21st with a time of 23:02.  Emily Roberts and Jillian Enke finished close, with Roberts taking 37th place in a time of 25:06 and Enke finishing in 39th place with a time of 25:33.

Also running the course was Ella Nielsen, 45th, 26:31; Aimee Groeneweg, 48th, 27:40; and Jessica Theobald, 50th, 28:48.

“Both Ella and Aimee ran solid races, finishing with either a personal best or season best time,” said DiMarco.

JV Results

Boys

The JV boys cross country team ran an excellent meet, with four of the runners finishing in the top 10.  The efforts earned the team runner-up honors.

Tanner Reimann and Vladimir Starrett finished in second and third place respectively with times of 19:52 and 20:08.  Elijah Mock was sixth with a time of 20:19 and Easton Goeman was 10th with a time of 20:45.

“Easton and Jordan both ran personal best times,” said DiMarco.

Rounding out the race was Jordan Bergman, 18th, 21:36; Matt Moore, 20th, 21:50; Noah Petersen, 32nd, 23:07; Logan Ruff, 42nd, 23:25; Mitchel Conway, 51st, 24:49; and JJ Bauer, 63rd, 26:34.

Girls

It was a very successful day for the JV girls cross country team.  The entire team finished in the top 25 and they all ran personal best times.

Emily Benitz led the team with a 15th place finish in a time of 27:40.  Gretchen Guetzlaff, Chloe Williamson and Julia Kravchuk finished in 20th, 21st and 22nd place.  Guetzlaff ran the race in 28:47, followed by Williamson in 28:51 and Kravchuk in 29:06.