Clear Lake hosts X-C meet at Veterans Memorial GC

(Above) Jadyn Heesch was the top finisher for the girls team.  She placed 29th with a time of 23:58.5.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Michelle Watson

The Clear Lake cross country team hosted a meet on Thursday, Oct. 17.  The meet was held at Veteran’s Memorial Golf Course in Clear Lake.

“The course was fast and produced a lot of personal records,” said Coach Tyler Havens.  “We would like to thank the golf course for their hospitality and we look forward to returning for the Conference championships next month.”

Boys Results

The Varsity boys placed second out of 13 teams with 85 points.  Humboldt, who is ranked eleventh, won the meet with 34 points.  Forest City was third with 108 points.

Quintin Orr, of Humboldt, won the boys race in a time of 15:52.5.  Justin Wright was the highest place winner for Clear Lake.  He was fourth with a time of 17:20.5.  Leo Tolentino was next to cross the line for Clear Lake.  He was 13th with a time of 18:21.  Christopher Molander placed 21st with a time of 18:31.6. Jaden Wright and Jack Crane finished 22nd and 23rd with times of   18:38.2 and 18:38.2.  Tanner Reimann was 29th with a time of 18:47.9.  Rounding out the team was Andrew Mixdorf in 38th place with a time of 19:16.1.

“Generally, we raced pretty well, but there is definitely room for improvement and we remain unsatisfied,” said Coach Haven.  “We are close to peaking in our training schedule so the boys are racing tired, as we are training right through these meets.  I am excited to see just how good we are as a team when we perfect our race plan and freshen up our legs in the weeks to come.”

Coach Haven said the varsity lineup is fluid week-to-week with more than seven boys capable of running varsity.  He said the team is hoping to solidify the lineup following the Humboldt meet this week.

The JV boys also placed second behind Humboldt, by a slight four points.  The JV squad met a goal by beating Forest City by 11 points.  Forest City had previously beaten the Lions at the Newman Catholic meet.

Girls Results

The Clear Lake girls were without two runners, Ella Nielsen and Olivia Fausnaugh.

“I consider the team score to be meaningless,” said Haven. “I do commend Gretchen Guetzlaff and Kristina Miller who stepped in to fill those spots.”

Newman Catholic was the winner in the 10 team field with 58 points.  Clear Lake was ninth with 222.

Jadyn Heesch was the top finisher for the girls.  She was 29th with a time of 23:58.5.  Jillian Enke was 50th with a time of 25.20.6 and Emily Roberts was 52nd in 25:38.  Haley Jackson was 73rd with a time of 28:15.2 and Guetzlaff was 75th in 29:28.6.  Miller was 78th with a time of 34:02.7.

“I wanted the girls to focus on running their best individual races and looking to beat girls who have previously beat them,” said Haven.  “The girls are also racing tired and they are doing a great job at staying positive through the training with the goal being to run fast in October.”