Smith, Cataldo finish one-two at Clear Lake Invitational

(Above) Clear Lake’s Sam Pedelty works hard up a hill to catch GHV’s Ray Cataldo.  Cataldo ended up second in the race and Pedelty was right behind him for a third place finish.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

It was a big week for the Garner-Hayfield-Ventura cross country team, as they competed in two meets in some warm weather.

Ballard Meet

On Monday, Sept. 11, the boys and girls teams faced some tough competition at  the Ballard Meet.  The boys team placed sixth with 128 points and the girls were seventh with 212 points.  Gilbert won the boys meet with 52 points and Humboldt topped the girls meet with 40 points.

The GHV boys saw a switch in leadership, as Ray Cataldo bested Reece Smith.  Cataldo and Smith finished in third and fourth place respectively.  Cataldo finished in 17:02 and Smith was only six seconds behind him in 17:08.  Rounding out the boy’s score was Dalton Kelley, 32nd, 19:11; Blake Lynch, 44th, 19:41; and Andy Schreur, 45th, 19:47.  Nathan Larson finished in 60th place with a time of 20:30 and Dalton Have was 71st in 21:21.

Abby Christians led the girls with an 18th place finish in 22:17.  Rachel Sokol was 39th in 24:08 and Alison Johnson was 49th in 25:04.  Also competing for the girls was Jillian Heitland, 52nd, 25:26; Nicole Upmeyer, 54th,  25:32; and Hannah Whelan, 55th, 25:36.

Clear Lake Invitational

It wasn’t an easy day to be running on Thursday, Sept. 14, when the Garner-Hayfield-Ventura cross country team traveled to the Iowa Regular Baptist Camp, in Ventura, for the Clear Lake cross country meet.  The hot day and hilly course was all about the survival of the fittest.

The Cardinal boys didn’t disappoint, as they took the top two individual spots.  Reece Smith was the overall winner with a time of 16:49.  Ray Cataldo was the next runner to cross the line with a time of 17:21.  The two, who train together, have been benefitting from the strong competition they find in each other.

Although GHV captured the one-two finish, they placed fourth in the team standings with 82 points.  Clear Lake won the meet with 51 points, followed by Humboldt with 64 and South Hamilton with 74.

Also competing for GHV was Dalton Kelley, 19th, 19:10; Blake Lynch, 26th, 19:27; Andy Schreur, 34th, 19:41, Nathan Larson, 39th, 20:04 and Zach Suby, 49th, 20:36.

The girls were led by Abby Christians, who placed third with a time of 21:41.  Rachel Sokol was next for the Cardinals, finishing in 16th place with a time of 23:53.  Jillian Heitland was 32nd in 24:40 and Alison Johnson was 40th in 25:18 and Nicole Upmeyer rounded out the score with a 45th place finish in 26:07.  Also competing was Hannah Whelan, 49th, 26:49 and Lorna Whelan, 57th with a time of 27:33.

The girls finished fifth as a team with a score of 136.  Humboldt won the meet with 20 points, followed by Newman Catholic with 95.

JV Boys Results

•Dalton Hawe, 5th, 20:45

•Jake Hejlik, 6th, 20:59

•Lucas Rayhons, 16th, 21:53

•Kristopher Hammit, 22:18

•Patrick Carew, 36th, 22:53

•Sam Childress, 47th, 23:23

•Simon Claric, 25:08

•Austin Mohlis, 76th, 25:28

•Caleb Swalve, 77th, 25:31

•Luke Hansen, 79th, 25:54

•Jordan Upmeyer, 81st, 26:39

•Brandon Galkin, 93rd, 30:01

JV Girls Results

•Sadie Oulman, 10th, 27:40

•Hannah Wellik, 22nd, 29:35

•Emma Whelan, 25th, 30:33

•Teak Hennings, 37th, 34:25