Clear Lake boys X-C team takes top honors at Newman Meet

(Above) (Left) Tanner Reiman (left) and Christopher Molander paced each other during the race.  Reiman placed 15th with a time of 19:15.3, while Molander was 19th with a time of 19:21.6.

(Above) (Right) (L-R): Emily Roberts, Jillian Enke and Emily Benitz ran the race together and finished the race together.  Enke placed 55th, while Roberts was 56th and Benitz was 59th. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

Clear Lake’s boys cross country team notched its first win of the season at the Newman Catholic Invitational held Tuesday in Mason City.  The Lions outdistanced Newman by 27 points, 68 to 95, to bring home the title.  New Hampton was a distant third with 125 points.

“We were able to come away with the win by running a smart race and staying tough while passing the last mile,” said Head Coach Tyler Havens.  “We also had a much better spread 1-5 and 1-7 than our first meet. While it was exciting to win our first meet of the season, our work is far from done and we need to stay hungry.”

Justin Wright was the top finisher for the Lions.  The senior finished third in a time of 17:59.2.  Lee Tolentino finished just outside of the top 10.  He was 11th in 18:56.8.  Tanner Reiman was close behind, placing 15th in 19:15.3.  Christopher Molander (19:21.6), Jaden Wright (19:23.8), Jack Crane (19:26.6) and Andrew Mixdorf (19:30.2), finished 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd respectively.

Girls

The Lion girls team made great adjustments from their first to second meet, according to their coach, and performed much better as a team.

Host Newman Catholic won the team title with 66 points, followed by Iowa Falls-Alden with 81 and Osage with 90.  The Clear Lake girls were 10th in the 11-team field.

Ellie Meyer, from IF-A finished first in a time of 19:08.4

“We need to keep focusing on the little things everyday that will make us a much better team at the end of the season,” said Coach Havens.  “We will take what we learned from this meet and look forward to the next meet (Thursday, Sept. 17) at Veterans Memorial Golf Course in Clear Lake.”

Jadyn Heesch led the Lion pack in the girls race.  She was 25th in a time of 24:57.2.  Ella Nielsen covered the course in 26:12.2 and placed 46th.  The next four Clear Lake runners finished within five placements of each other: Jillian Enke (55th, 27:21.1), Emily Roberts (56th, 27:24.7), Emily Benitz (59th, 27:37.0) and Olivia Fausnaugh (60th, 27:38.2).  Haley Jackson was 69th in 28:41.2.

Junior varsity

Joe Faber ran to victory in the junior varsity boys race.  He broke the 20-minute mark with a time f 19:46.5.  Close behind was teammate Vladmir Starrett, finishing third in 20:34.7 and Elijah Mock, sixth in 21:08.4.

The remainder of the JV boys included: Easton Goeman (15th, 23:02.2), Ethan Zickefoose (16th, 23:06.8), Cabot Nueberger (32nd, 25:53.8), Conner McKibben (33rd, 25:54.0), Ethan Evelsizer (35th, 25:59.0) and Mitchel Conway (43rd, 28:23.9).

Gretchen Guetzlaff and Kristin Miller competed in the junior varsity girls race for Clear Lake.  Guetzlaff was clocked in 32:35.8 to finished 17th, while Miller ran a 32:37.5 for 18th place.

Boys team results

Clear Lake 68

Newman Catholic 95

New Hampton 125

Forest City 128

G-H-V 147

Central Springs 151

St. Ansgar 186

Bishop Garrigan 207

North Butler 223

N-K 234

IF-A 244

Osage 265

Lake Mills 303

West Hancock 392

North Iowa 427

Girls team results

Newman Catholic 66

IF-A 81

Osage 90

St. Ansgar 110

GHV 142

New Hampton 145

Forest City 158

West Hancock 184

Bishop Garrigan 206

Clear Lake 223

North Butler 246