GHV brings home top honors at TIC Meet

(Above Left) Austin Siegrist (left) and Ray Cataldo lead a pack of runners during the Top of Iowa Conference meet held on Thursday, Oct. 13, at the NIACC campus.  Cataldo finished in fourth place, while Siegrist was seventh in the West Division. (Above) Right) GHV’s Hannah Whelan was the top finisher for the GHV girls team.  Whelan finished in second place in the West Division of the TIC Conference meet.  -Reporter photos by Chris Barragy

Reece Smith wins it all

All systems were go for the Garner-Hayfield-Ventura girls and boys cross country teams, as they competed in two meets last week, including the Top of Iowa Conference Meet.

Forest City Meet

Twenty-four runners recorded personal best times at the Forest City Meet held on Monday, Oct. 10.

The girls team took third place in the 10- team field race with 96 points.  Newman Catholic won the competition with 33 points, followed by Bishop Garrigan, who only beat the Cardinals by four points with 92.

“We have some ‘hungry’ girls looking at cutting off more time to place higher in the conference and at the regional meet,” said Coach Jeff Short.

Hannah Whelan led the girls team with a seventh place finish in a time of 21:33, beating her old personal record of 21:50.  Rebekah Larson and Nicole Upmeyer placed in the top 20 with a 12th and 18th place finish respectively.  They also clocked personal best times of 22:18 and 22:39.  Rachel Sokol crossed the line in 25th place with a time of 23:16.  Sadie Oulman and Elexis Carrison finished close together with a 34th and 38th finish.  Oulman ran the race in 24:02 and Carrison in 24:10.

The boys, who were competing without some of their top runners, finished in fourth place in the nine- team field.  Newman Catholic won the meet with 37 points, followed by Forest City with 61, Osage placed third with 67 points and GHV had 92 points.

“This meet determined the last two runners to fill the varsity squad for the conference meet,” said Coach Jeff Short.  “Mason Wirtz and Tyler Obermann ran their way onto the varsity squad for the TIC meet.”

The GHV runners all ran in a pack and finished in a tight bunch.  Wirtz and Obermann sealed their varsity positions with 14th and 17th place finishes.  Wirtz finished in 18:22, while Obermann recorded a time of 18:34.

The other top runners included Dalton Kelley, who was 19th with a time of 18:46; Nathan Larson, 20th, 18:48; Andy Schreur, 22nd, 18:51; Lucas Rayhons, 26th, 18:58; and Dalton Hawe, 37th, 19:42.

“Exciting things are happening as the season is coming to an end,” said Short.

TIC Conference Meet

The GHV cross country team had a lot to celebrate at the Top of Iowa Conference Meet held on Thursday, Oct. 13 at the NIACC campus.

The boys team did an outstanding job behind the strong legs of its leading runners.  The team placed first in the West team standings with 24 points.  Eagle Grove was second with 49 points and Forest City was third with 76 points.  Thirteen teams competed in the overall TIC Conference race.  The Cards won with 32 points, followed by Eagle Grove with 78 and Osage with 101 points.

Reece Smith took top honors in the boys race with a time of 15:58, beating his personal best time of 16:17.  Logan Dalbeck wasn’t far behind with a time of 16:41, good for second place in the West division and third place overall.  Ray Cataldo was fourth in the West division and sixth overall with a time of 17:17.  Austin Siegrist finished in 17:36, making him seventh in the West division and 10th overall.  Derek Brown finished in the top 10 in the West division with a time of 18:08 and was 16th in the overall race.  Mason Wirtz and Tyler Obermann rounded out the varsity runners with times of 18:37 and 19:50 respectively.

Smith, Dalbeck, Cataldo and Siegrist all earned First Team All-Conference honors, while Brown and Wirtz earned Second Team-All Conference recognition.

On the girls side, Hannah Whelan had a great night, finishing in 21:39, good for second place in the West division and 14 place overall.  She was also named to the First Team All-Conference.  Rebekah Larson also had a good night, with a third place finish in the West division and a 23rd overall with a time of 22:13.  Larson earned Second Team All-Conference Recognition.

The girls finished third in the West division with 63 points.  Eagle Grove won with 37 points followed by Bishop Garrigan with 56.  The overall TIC title went to Osage with 40 points.  GHV finished sixth in the 15-team conference with 176 points.

Rounding out the varsity runners was Rachel Sokol, 23:20; Nicole Upmeyer, 23:38; Sadie Oulman, 23:41; and Elexis Carrison, 24:39.

“Both teams ran very well.  We had several personal records and the runners are getting their times where they need to be at this time of the year,” said Coach Jeff Short.

GHV will host Regionals on Thursday, Oct. 20, at 4 p.m.