Clear Lake and GHV boys cross country teams on to State

(Above) Clear Lake’s Katelyn Moore qualified individually with a time of 20:57.

GHV’s Smith wins it all; team also wins

The GHV and Clear Lake boys cross country teams are headed to the State Meet Saturday in Fort Dodge.  Defending Class 2A Champion Garner-Hayfield-Ventura won the District Meet held in Garner Thursday with 46 points.  Clear Lake was runner-up with 54 points. South Winneshiek was third with 61 points.

Runners from the two teams claimed all five of the top placements.  The Cardinals were led by Reece Smith and Logan Dalbeck, who finished as the top two individually. Smith posted a winning time of 15:57 and Dalbeck crossed the finish line in 16:38. Sam Pedelty, of Clear Lake, finished third in 16:58. GHV’s Ray Cataldo placed fourth in 17:04. Lion Eric Faught was fifth in 17:10.

“What I really like to see was the consistency in their times,” said GHV Coach Jeff Short about his boys team.  “They have put the miles in this past summer and the training in this season and now just need to go out and race.  The nice thing about this part of the season is that the training is completed and now the State Meet is just another race.”

Clear Lake Coach Nick DiMarco said he felt his team saved their best race for the State Qualifying Meet.  All seven runners ran season best times.  Four of the seven runners have State Meet experience which the coach said is invaluable.

“Sam Pedelty ran a near perfect race, not getting lured into the super fast start.  He ran relaxed and was passing people the entire second half of the race,” said DiMarco.  “Eric Faught, coming off the conference championship, put together another fantastic race.”

DiMarco noted Ike Branstad ran his best race of this year, finishing seventh in 17:25.  “Ike has had his eye on this race since the beginning of the year and executed his race strategy perfectly,” he said.   

Freshman Jacob Petersen finished 19th for the Lions in 18:01.  “Jacob is learning race strategy from Sam Pedelty running conservatively early in the race and picking off people in the second half of the race,” added DiMarco.  Clear Lake senior Grant Dieken finished right along with Peterson in 18:01, placing 20th.  “Grant has been a great leader for the Lions this year and had the boys focused and ready to run their best race.”

Noan Colby was close behind, placing 23rd in 18:12.  Mahmoud Majdi, an exchange student from Morocco, finished 27th in 18:28.

GHV’s Austin Siegrist finished in the top 20 with a time of 17:47.50, good for 15th place.  Derek Brown and Mason Wirtz were next to cross the line for the Cardinals.  Brown finished in 24th place in a time of 18:15.53 and Wirtz was 28th in 18:30.23.  Rounding out the GHV runners was Nathan Larson who was 38th with a time of 18:49.61.

“It was incredible to run a Regional Meet on our own course,” said the Cardinals’ coach.  “I think it was great for the runners, fans, and the community.  There was a lot of work involved organizing and running the meet, but with all of the great volunteers, it went great.  I would like to thank the City and the Foundation for allowing  GHV to showcase our Cross Country program.”

Moore advances for Clear Lake girls

  On the girls side in Garner, South Winneshiek took the team title with 39 points, while Osage qualified as a team as well with a second-place finish of 67 points. Emmetsbburg was third with 72 points and Clear Lake finished fourth with 113.

Josie Kreiner, of South Winn, won the individual title in 18:51. Katelyn Moore, of Clear Lake, qualified individually with a time of 20:57.

The Clear Lake girls had their best finish in the State Qualifier in years, placing fourth among 12 teams, with three ranked teams in the top eight.  The Lady Lions were led by Moore who ran a very gutsy race, finishing 15th.

“This is the first time Katelyn has broken the 21 minute barrier.  She passed a Columbus Catholic runner just before the finish line to secure a top 15 finish and an All District Honor,” said Coach DiMarco. “This is the first time that Katelyn has qualified for the State Meet.  With her work ethic, Katelyn should have a great experience at State.”

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Gretchen Jones placed 22nd for the Lions in 21:35.  “Gretchen has been a great leader for the team all year and helped her teammates to their best team finish in recent memory,” said Coach DiMarco.

Next for the Lions was Riley Cooney, who ran her fastest race of the year to come across the finish line in 21:42, good for 25th.  Bailey Larsen also ran well, finishing 27th in 21:44.  Tali Tesar finished 29th in 21:48.  Alena Gabrielson was 32nd in 21:58, despite fighting an asthma attack for most of the race.  Mallory Leisure finished 68th in 24:35.

“All seven competitors will be returning next season with their sites set on a top three finish,” said DiMarco.  “It has been great working with the entire team.  We were 50 runners strong and there is no way we would have had the success that we did without the help and dedication of Assistant Coach Steven Story.”

Leading the way for the GHV girls was Hannah Whelan, who placed 24th with a time of 21:42.  Rebekah Larson ran the race in 21:53, placing 30th.  Nicole Upmeyer and Rachel Sokol were 44th and 45th respectively.  Upmeyer finished in 22:50 and Sokol’s time was 22:53.  Sadie Oulman was 50th in 23:02.  Rounding out the Cardinals harriers was Jillian Heitland, 56th, 23:23.42 and Elexis Carrison, 62nd with a time of 23:58.84.

“The girls placed seventh out of 12 teams and is a great improvement from last year’s results,” said Coach Short.  “The girls recorded several personal records at the meet and the team looks very promising for next years season.

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