CL X-C teams compete at Humboldt; Pedelty picks up another win

Humboldt edged the Clear Lake boys in an exciting matchup of North Central Conference teams competing at the Humboldt High School cross country meet Monday, Sept. 18.  The Wildcats won with 46 points, while the Lions finished with 59.  Kuemper Catholic was third with 130 and another NCC team, Algona, was fourth with 136.

Clear Lake’s Sam Pedelty crossed the finish line in a winning time of 17:32.20.  Teammate Eric Faught placed fourth in 17:52.45.  Ike Branstad came in 13th in 18:57.91, followed by Dylan Schuchard and Karter Anderson in 20th and 21st respectively.  Their times were 19:09.22 and 19:10.56.  Also running varsity was Jacob Peterson, who was 48th in 20:03.87, and Lewis Callaway, 50ths in 20:06.26.

“The varsity boys ran this race as a tempo run, meaning that they practiced hitting predetermined mile splits,” explained Coach Nick DiMarco.  “We wanted to run this race at a controlled pace in order to be well rested for the Roy Griak meet on Saturday. The boys did a good job running according to our plan and still placed well.”

Varsity girls race

The Clear Lake girls finished seventh in the field of 17 with 192 points.  Humboldt captured the team title with 31 points, easily outdistancing runner-up Algona who had 127 points.  Iowa Falls-Alden-AGWSR was third with 129.

Gretchen Jones was the leader for the Lions, placing 12th in 22:02.62.  Alena Gabrielson finished in the top 20, coming in 18th in 22:23.78.  Bailey Larsen was 33rd in a time of 23:31.47 and Riley Cooney placed 58th in 24:48.23.  Mallory Leisure was 75th in 25:53.38 and Jillian Enke and Tali Tesar came in 90th and 91st respectively in 26:55.71 and 27:01.12.

“The varsity girls are showing great improvement from race to race. To finish well up in the top half of this talented field is quite an accomplishment,” said Coach DiMarco.  “If the girls continue to work hard the next two weeks they should do quite well at the conference meet.”