Clear Lake and GHV girls X-C teams finish middle of the pack

[caption id="attachment_12593" align="alignleft" width="270"] GHV’s Rebekah Larson (left) and Hailey Hudspeth run together during the Newman Catholic Invitational. -Repoorter photo by Chris Barragy[/caption]

The Clear Lake and Garner-Hayfield-Ventura varsity girls cross country teams both finished in the middle of the pack at Tuesday’s Newman Catholic Invitational.  The GHV team was sixth with 184 points, while Clear Lake was eighth with 230 points.

Clear Lake was running without their top performer. Number one runner Gretchen Jones was out of the lineup last week, but Coach Nick DiMarco noted each member of his team ran better races in tougher conditions than the week before.  “They continue to work very hard and I expect that as the season progresses we will steadily improve team scores,” said DiMarco.

Osage won the team title with 33 points, followed by West Fork with 62 and Newman Catholic with 95.  Iowa Falls-Alden-AWGSR was fourth with 132, Mason City had 159 and GHV rounded out the top six with 1984.  St. Ansgar and Clear Lake were next with 194 and 230.  Seven more teams followed.

Erin O’Tool paced the Clear Lake girls, finishing 28th in a time of 23:42.  Bailey Larson was 38th in 24:45, followed by Katelyn Moore in 38th with a time of 24:56.  Rissa Barragy and Tali Tesar rounded out the scoring, placing 54th and 67th in 25:54 and 27:10.  Nicki Tesar also ran the varsity race, placing 79th in 27:48.

The GHV team was led by Maria Gonzalez, who finished ninth with a tim of 21:59.  Rebekah Larson and Kaylee Hudspeth finished 36th and 37th respectively with times of 24:41 and 24:42.  Nicole Upmeyer was 47th with a tim of 25:35 and Morgan Graham was 55th with a time of 26:04.  Also running varsity was Hannah Wellik, who finished 56th with a time of 26:09 and Emma Whelan who was 77th with a time of 27:46.

“The girls are still in the process of learning how to run the 5K race, which is a change from last year’s 4K race.  I was happy the way they ran in the heat and look forward to watching their times go down as the season progresses,” said GHV Coach Jeff Short.

Junior Varsity

Alena Gabrielson picked up a top 10 finish in the girls junior varsity race, placing ninth in a time of 26:30.  Krytel Lu was 57th in 32:50, Ellie Biebesheimer was 66th in 33:55 and Aliyah Bennett was 72nd in 36.23.  Michaela Niles, Ivy Pruisman, Madison Glochanor and Breanna Archer placed 75th, 76th, 77th and 78th, with Niles and Priusman each running 37:12, Glochnor clocking a 37:18 and Archer finishing in 37:42.

Paige Rasmusen ran JV for Garner-Hayfield-Ventura.  She was 47th and clocked a 31:48.

• OSAGE 33

• WEST FORK 62

• NEWMAN CATHOLIC 95

• IFA-AGWSR 132

• MASON CITY 159

• GHV 184

• ST. ANSGAR 194

• CLEAR LAKE 230

• NORTH IOWA 272

• ROCKFORD 292

• NEW HAMPTON 298

• FOREST CITY 307

• CENTRAL SPRINGS 338

• LAKE MILLS 349

• BISHOP GARRIGAN 365

NOT FULL TEAM:  NORTH BUTLER