Clear Lake X-C teams both finish fourth

Clear Lake’s boys and girls cross country team each finished fourth in 10-team fields competing in the Dick Bell Invitational at Eagle Grove Tuesday, Oct. 4.

This week the Lions competed in the North Central Conference meet Tuesday, Oct. 11, int Hampton. The meet will serve as a tune-up for the State Qualifying Meet scheduled for Thursday,  Oct. 20, at Garner.

Girls race

The Lady Lions put together their best competitive race of the season, finishing behind three ranked teams.

“This race was a great tune-up before the Conference Meet and should give the girls lots of confidence,” said Coach Nick DiMarco. Clear Lake continues to be led by Gretchen Jones, who finished 12th with a time of 21:35.  She was followed closely by Katelyn Moore, who was 15th in a new best of 21:48.  Alena Gabrielson’s time set a new personal for her, finishing 24th in 22:20.

“This was a race of personal bests.  Not only did Katelyn and Alena set personal records, but so did Tali Tesar in 31st place (22:59) and Riley Cooney in 33rd place (22:59),” said the coach.  “This team is learning how to run in a pack with many finishing together.”

Bailey Larsen finished in 35th place with a time of 23:03 and Rissa Barragy placed 52nd in a time of 24:20.

Also racing for the Lions was: Mallory Leisure, 59th, 24:49; Nikki Tesar, 87th, 27:02; Kara Reineke, 88th, 27:03; Sharrell Lee, 102nd, 28:34; Krystle Lu, 103rd, 28:36; Elizabeth Brandt, 107th, 29:03; Madison Gochanour, 116th, 31:51; and Aliyah Bennett, 117th, 31:57.

Boys race

Like the girls, the boys competed well under difficult wet conditions and finished behind three ranked teams.

Sam Pedelty, Eric Faught, and Ike Branstad all medaled by placing in the top 30.  Pedelty was 10th with a time of 17:26.  Faught placed 15th in a time of 17:45.  Branstad was 23rd with a time of 18:07.  Rounding out the scoring for the Lions was Grant Dieken and Jacob Peterson, finishing 31st and 37th respectively in 18:39 and 18:56.

Many of the following runners had personal bests some shaving off minutes from their times.   

In 39th place was Mahmoud Majdi, 18:59; Noan Colby, 52nd, 19:22; Lewis Callaway, 64th, 19:44; Dylan Schuchard, 67th, 19:53; Jacob Pedelty, 76th, 20:14; Karter Anderson, 82nd, 20:25; Josh Howard, 84th, 20:33; Jackson Hamlin, 102nd, 21:12; Austin Young 104th, 21:15; Theo Swanson, 114th, 21:44; Joel Groeneweg, 123rd, 22:08; Nick Currier, 127th, 22:15; Tim Swanson, 143rd, 23:26; David Lincicum, 149th, 24:08; Hunter Gerhardt, 156th, 24:30.  Also running, but times and places were not recorded by meet officials was:  David Guetzlaff, Shane Furhman, Carson Meyer and Duke Olthoff.