X-C boys finish second in NCC Meet; girls finish sixth

(Above) Clear Lake’s Jack Crane ran his best race of the season with a time of 18:12.6.  Crane placed 14th in the NCC Meet.  -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy

by Marianne Gasaway

[caption id="attachment_58610" align="alignleft" width="300"] Ella Nielsen and Olivia Fausnaugh competed for the Lions at the North Central Conference meet on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Veterans Memorial Golf Course. -Reporter photo by Chris Barragy[/caption]

Clear Lake finished second to 13th ranked Humboldt in the boys varsity race at the North Central Conference Meet held Tuesday, Oct. 13, at Veterans Memorial Golf Course in Clear Lake.

“The boys had their best team performance of the season at the perfect time,” said Coach Tyler Havens.  “We ran a very smart race and showed a lot of grit and toughness in the last half of the race. Our goal was to beat Webster City, who we tied with last week at Eagle Grove. We were able to beat them by 13 points.”

The Lions were led by Justin Wright and Leo Tolentino, who both earned All-Conference honors as top 10 place winners.  Wright was third in 16:48.4, while Tolentino crossed the finish line seventh in 17:30.7.

“Justin ran a good race for us up front, finishing with a 13 second personal record, and Leo continues to drop time in a breakout sophomore season,” noted the coach.

Jack Crane ran his best race of the season, coming away with a nine second personal record (18:12.6) to place 14th and Joe Faber (18:19.3) had a breakout race, according to his coach, finishing as the Lions’ number four runner in 17th.

“He had a 31 second personal record and this was his first time finishing in our top five,” said Havens.  “Joe is a phenomenal multisport athlete and is beginning to find success in his debut cross country season as a junior.”

Jaden Wright closed out the scoring for the team as its number five runner, finishing well in front of Webster City’s number five.  Wright came in 21st in a time of 18:36.3.  Also competing was Christopher Molander, placing 24th in 18:48.5, and Andrew Mixdorf, 36th in 19:25.3.

“Our training is designed to run fast in the championship season and the boys showed up to do just that,” said their coach.  “This team was fourth last year at the Conference Championships so we have made great progress this season. This group of boys has shown they are competitors and are confident in their abilities in these big races.”

The Lions will now compete at the State Qualifying Meet in Waverly where they will race the number three, five and sixth ranked teams in Class 3A.

“This will be the best 3A competition we have seen all year, so I am excited to see where we stack up,” said Havens.  “The meet will be held on Wartburg’s course which is where we ran a meet earlier this month, so we will be familiar with the course. We will see lots of personal records and great competition.”

Girls race

The varsity girls finished sixth in the NCC race, beating out Hampton-Dumont and Clarion-Goldfield-Dows.  St. Edmond claimed the team title with a score of 37.  Iowa Falls-Alden was runner-up with 55.

“The girls had a great team performance and finished as expected, beating out Clarion-Goldfield-Dows and Hampton-Dumont,” said Coach Havens.  “We had three individual lifetime personal records and a couple more season personal records.”

Jadyn Heesch ran a season personal record to finish as the Lions’ number one and Jillian Enke ran a solid race to finish as the team’s number two in her last conference championships.  Heesch placed 26th overall in 23:33.3, while Enke was 32nd in 24:52.1.  Emily Roberts also had a season personal record, running a 25:14.7 to place 36th.

Olivia Fausnaugh and Emily Benitz both had lifetime personal records and ran strong races, according to their coach.  “They are both really dedicated to their training and I am really starting to see that pay off for them at the end of the season,” said Havens.  Fausnaugh was 37th in 25:23.9 and Benitz came in 38th in 25:31.2.

Ella Nielsen was back in the Lion lineup and ran a strong race after battling a lot of adversity this season with a hip injury.  She placed 40th in 26:06.  Haley Jackson was 43rd in 27:19.

“The girls will also be going to Waverly for the State Qualifying meet and we will look to improve upon our 13th place finish at last year’s state qualifying meet,” added Havens.