CL Invitational draws 600-plus runners

(Above) Clear Lake’s Justin Wright gives it all he’s got to reach the finish line in eighth place at the Clear Lake Invitational held Thursday at the Baptist Camp in Ventura.  The sophmore paced Clear Lake runners, finishing in 18:11.5.-Reporter photo by Chris Barragy. 

Lion boys fifth, girls seventh at largest ever home meet

Clear Lake cross country teams hosted their largest ever invitational meet Thursday, Sept. 14, at the Regular Baptist Camp at Ventura.  The Lion boys team finished fifth in the 13-team field, while the Clear Lake girls were seventh among 14 teams in the varsity race.  Nearly 600 runners competed in the event.

Coach Nick DiMarco noted the meet featured the use of electronic timing for the first time.  He also thanked the volunteers who helped to make the invitational so successful.

“Going into the last part of the season we need to solidify our varsity girls and boys lineup,” said DiMarco after the meet.   “Most of our kids are running faster times than last year.  We just have to move our three through seven guys up a few spots in our upcoming races to be competitive.”

Boys race

Humboldt captured the team title in the boys varsity race, with Quinton Orr leading the Wildcats with a first place finish.

The Wildcats finished in a tie with Roland-Story High School at 73-points, but Humboldt was the winner based on the placement of the teams’ sixth runner.  Newman Catholic was third with 74 points; South Hamilton finished fourth with 104 and Clear Lake had 130.

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Justin Wright paced Clear Lake runners, finishing eighth in 18:11.5.  Eric Faught was next for the Lions.  He came in 17th in 18:41.5.  Also contributing points for the Lions was: Jacob Peterson, 34th, 19:29.8; Noan Colby, 37th, 19:38.5; Lewis Callaway, 41st, 19:51.2; and Austin Warnke, 42nd, 19:52.5.  Also running was Jacob Pedelty, 62nd, 21:02.5.

Girls race

Humboldt also won the girls race with 59 points, outdistancing runner-up Newman Catholic with 89 and Eagle Grove with 122 points.  West Fork was fourth with 144 points, followed by St. Ansgar with 171, Roland-Story 173, and Clear Lake with 191.

Clear Lake’s Alena Gabrielson nabbed a top 10 finish by running a 23:00.7 to get 10th overall.  Bailey Larsen was 21st in 24:02.9.  She was followed by: Kaylee McCarl, 43rd, 25:29.2; Jillian Enke, 52nd, 25:58.4; Mallory Leisure, 68th, 27:37.4; Jessica Theobald, 76th, 28:21.7; and Taylor Krull, 81st, 25:58.2.

Junior varsity

The Clear Lake junior varsity girls were led by Katelyn Moore, who was fifth in a time of 25:18.0.   

Coach DiMarco noted Moore in back in the lineup and predicted she “will be a major contributor going forward.”

Clear Lake’s Emily Roberts was 18th in 26:39.8. Haley Jackson finished 35th in 29:56.0.  Aimee Groeneweg was 62nd in 33:57.6; Gretchen Guetzlaff was 63rd in 34:01.6; Chloe Williamson was 64th in 34:15.4.

Tanner Reimann and Ben Stroup were each in the top 10 in the JV boys race.  Reimann ran a 19:54.4 and placed sixth, while Stroup was clocked in 20:01.1, good for 10th.  Joel Groeneweg was 18th in 20:52.6. Elijah Mock was 25th in 21:05.8 and Carter Olk placed 30th in 21:21.7.

Other JV placements included: Austin Young, 50th, 22:08.9; Mitchell Raber, 54th, 22:15.1; Conner Morey, 76th, 22:51.2; Easton Goeman, 83rd, 22:57.0; Erik Ritter, 86th, 23:02.6; Noah Petersen, 87th, 23:03.9; Vladmir Starrett, 109th, 23:47.6; David Guetzlaff, 111th, 23:56.8; Caden Jones, 116th, 24:10.4; Nick Currier, 118th, 24:15.2; Keagan Cody, 123rd, 24:20.7; Jordan Bergman, 126th, 24:24.3; Carson Odor, 160th, 25:41.7; Andrew Formanek, 161st, 25:42.3.

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