CL X-C teams face tough competition at Humboldt

The Clear Lake boys and girls cross country teams ran hard against excellent competition Monday night, Sept. 19.   Coach Nick DiMarco noted that nearly all returning Lion runners improved their times compared to last year’s Humboldt race.   

The Lions finished fifth among 20 teams in the boys race; they were seventh in the girls’ competition.

Boys

GHV captured the team title in the boys race with 45 points.  The race for second in the team standings was close, as Humboldt edged Mason City, 98 to 100 points.  Fort Dodge was fourth with 125 and Clear Lake was fifth with 126.

Sam Pedelty led the Lion boys, finishing 13th with a time of 18:05.  Pedelty was in 20th place with one-half mile to go and made up lots of ground to nearly break into the top 10.  Eric Faught was close behind, finishing 16th in 18:10.  Ike Branstad finished 26th at 18:49, Grant Dieken placed 31st in 19:12,  Mahmoud Majdi finished 45th in 19:43, and finishing out the scoring was Jacob Peterson, 54th in 20:00, and Dylan Schuchard, 68th in 20:24.

Girls

The girls faced their toughest competition of the season and race admirably.    Mason City took home the team title with 71 points, followed by Humboldt with 78 and Emmetsburg with 111.  Iowa Falls was fourth with 139 points, St. Edmond’s had 147, Pocahontas 180 and Clear Lake 185.

Gretchen Jones continues to be a top 10 runner.  According to Coach DiMarco, Jones is one of the hardest workers and most coachable athletes he has had the pleasure to work with.  She ran a very smart race, according to the coach, finishing 10th in 22:08.  Katelyn Moore was next for the Lions, placing 19th in 22:48.  The Varsity team continued with Tali Tesar coming in 46th in 24:11.  “Over the past two years Tali has been our sixth or seventh runner in most races, but this year she has worked her way up to consistently be our fourth or better runner,” noted Coach DiMarco.  

The rest of the scorers for the Lions were:  Riley Cooney, 60th, 25:10; Baily Larsen, 62nd, 25:11; Mallory Leisure, 72nd, 26:00; and Rissa Barragy, 83rd, 26:49.

Clear Lake was slated to compete at Algona Monday, Sept. 26, however the meet was cancelled due to wet conditions.