Clear Lake runners do well at NCC meet

(Above) Clear Lake’s Ben Stroup finished in 19th place at the NCC Meet.  -Photo courtesy of Don Pedelty

Clear Lake cross country teams competed in the North Central Conference race last week.  The Lion boys ran a strong race and finished second overall to eighth ranked Humboldt.  The Clear Lake girls were fourth overall.

The NCC meet was held in Iowa Falls and was a road race because of wet conditions.

“All of our teams responded remarkably well,” said Coach Nick DiMarco.  “The leadership of (seniors) Carter Olk, David Guetzlaff, Joel Groeneweg, Austin Young, Eric Faught, Lewis Callaway, Ben Stroup, Nick Currier, Noan Colby, Jacob Petersen, Alena Gabrielson, Bailey Larsen, Katelyn Moore, Mallory Leisure and Sharell Lee will be difficult to replace. The attitude and commitment that they have brought to our program is immeasurable,” he added.

Clear Lake  had four all conference performers.  Alena Gabrielson and Bailey Larsen each finished in the top 10 in the girls race, while Eric Faught and Justin Wright were All-NCC on the boys side.

Faught was the top finisher for the boys.  The senior placed fourth in a time of 16:51.  He was followed closely by Justin Wright, who was fifth in 16:57.

The next three runners for the Lions were Lewis Callaway, 19th, 18:11.04; Ben Stroup, 19th, 18:12.86; and Austin Warnke, 21st, 18:28.19.  Noan Colby was 26th in 18:39.83 and Jacob Peterson was timed in 20:00.82 to place 44th.

Humboldt won the team race with a score of 34.  The Lions were second with 67 and Webster City finished this with 82.  Remaining team scores were: Algona (95), St. Ed’s (124), Iowa Falls-Alden (138), Clarion-Goldfield-Dows (177) and Hampton-Dumont-CAL (194).

The Clear Lake girls were led by Alena Gabrielson, who was eighth in 21:10, and Bailey Larsen, 10th, in 21:17.

“Our girls team has come so far from the beginning of the season,” said Coach DiMarco.

Katelyn Moore finished 16th in 22:05.61 and Jillian Enke was 19th in 21:16.95 for the Lions.  Kaylee McCarl finished 33rd in a time of 23:45.00, followed by Mallory Leisure, running 24:28.32 for 37th place, and Jessica Theobald, 45th, in 26:22.16.

Humboldt also captured the girls title with 44 points, followed by St. Ed’s with 65 and IF-A-AGWSR with 75.  Results for other teams were as follows: Clear Lake (86), Algona (119), Webster City (139), C-G-D (210) and H-D-CAL (224).

Clear Lake’s varsity cross country teams will be at Spencer Thursday for the State Qualifying Meet.