Busy week for CL cross country

by Marianne Gasaway

It was a busy week for Clear Lake cross country teams.  The Lions traveled to Manchester, New Hampton and North Linn in preparation for the North Central Conference Championship on Tuesday, Oct. 19.

Manchester

The Lions traveled to Manchester for a meet hosted by West Delaware Tuesday, Oct. 5.  

According to Coach Tyler Havens, his team was running with a bit of a chip on their shoulders.  

“The boys were ranked number 11 this week, only moving up three spots after beating number five Okoboji by 40 points. (Okoboji fell to number 14). We were unhappy with that ranking, as we feel that we are a legit top five team.”

The boys once again impressed, taking fourth place behind  Tipton, ranked number two in 2A, Western Dubuque, ranked fourth in 3A, and finishing just eight points behind number seven (3A) Mount Vernon Lisbon. 

“We beat 3A number 13 Waverly-Shell Rock by three points in a huge upset. That is the first time we have ever beat Waverly and they have beat a lot of ranked 2A teams this season,” said Havens.

Six of seven Clear Lake varsity boys had lifetime personal records at the meet.  The seventh, Leo Tolentino, was close to his 17:10 PR, running 17:15. 

Tolentino was Clear Lake’s top finisher, placing 19th.  Joe Faber was 22nd in 17:17. Jack Crane placed 23rd in 17:22, Christopher Molander was 39th in 17:53 and Jaden Wright was 42nd in 17:56.  Also running for the Lions was Vladmir Starrett (47th, 18:05) and Andrew Mixford (56th, 18:18).

In the JV race the Lions took second to Mount Vernon Lisbon with personal records all around. 

“It was hands down the best race for JV boys all season, led by senior Tanner Reimann and sophomore Ethan  Evelsizer who has dropped almost five-minutes so far this season from his best time freshman year.”

Reimann and Evelsizer were 11th and 12th in 19:04 and 19:07.  Freshman Owen Smith was 17th in 19:35.  Caleb Jones ran 19:44 to place 23rd, Liam Byrnes was 33rd in 20:19, Hudson Uetz 56th in 21:25 and Cody Hua 76th in 22:13.

The girls moved up five spots to number 13 in Class 2A this week, which Havens said was a pleasant surprise. “We had the opportunity to race number 11 Beckman Catholic.  All of the girls raced really well, with lots of personal records, but Beckman was just a little too much for us,” he said.   Clear Lake was eighth in the 18-team field with 181 points.  Beckman was sixth with 133.

Addison Doughan reset her school record with a time of 19:38 and Reese Brownlee also broke the old school record, running 20:21, one-minute better than her personal record.  Doughan and Brownlee now sit one-two all time at Clear Lake for the 5K. 

Also competing for the Lions was Emily McLaughlin, 39th in 22:01; Alexis Hauge, 56th, 22:41; Jadyn Heesch, 69th,23:19; Olivia Fasnaugh, 73rd, 23:32; and Ella Nielsen, 80th in 24:04.

The Lions also had impressive times in the JV race, with Maddie Leisure (77th, 26:36) and Kristina Miller (82nd, 26:56) earning personal records.  Emily Benitz was 67th in 26:04.

New Hampton

Thursday the 11th ranked boys team was at New Hampton meet to race the eighth ranked host team.

“Like I expected, we are really under-ranked, as we beat them by 28 points in a small field on short rest,” said Coach Havens.  “I believe that New Hampton has earned their spot at number eight and deserves to be there, we just deserve to be higher. I am optimistic for a big jump when the new rankings come out next week before the State qualifying sites are decided.  It was obvious my boys were tired on the quick turnaround from our meet on Tuesday, but I was impressed with their grit and understanding of why we needed to be there. I think this could be one of the best boys teams Clear Lake has ever seen and I am having so much fun coaching them!”

While Varsity and JV were run together in one race, they were scored separately. 

Clear Lake’s five scoring runners placed in the top 12.  Joe Faber (fifth, 18:06.8), Jack Crane (sixth, 18:07.6) and Leo Tolentino (seventh, 18:10.7) were Clear Lake’s first wave.  Vladmir Starrett (11th, 18:36.1) and Christopher Molander (12th, 18:38.1) were close behind.

Also running was Jaden Wright (14th, 18:42.7) and Andrew Mixdorf (17th, 19:12.2).

Clear Lake took the top four spots in JV and Liam Byrnes rounded out the scoring in eighth place, just three points shy of a perfect score. 

“We have a lot of young talent in this group and it makes me hopeful that we will continue to have great teams for years to come,” added Havens.

North Linn

The Lions wrapped up the regular season competing at North Linn Saturday.  

The girls had another strong showing amongst some ranked teams. The challenging course did not provide for many personal records, but according to Coach Havens, some were within 10 to 15 seconds of their lifetime bests, which was encouraging to see on the tough course. 

Clear Lake girls finished seventh in the 13-team field. 

“All teams that finished ahead of us were ranked 3A and 2A teams, with the exception of Hudson who is the number five in 1A.  We beat the number six and nine ranked 1A teams in Iowa City Regina and North Linn.  We were without usual top five scorer, Jadyn Heesch,” said Coach Havens.

Clear Lake’s Addison Dough was fourth in 19:51. Reese Brownlee finished just out of the top 10, placing 11th in 20:32.  Other times and placements were: Alexis Hauge (61st, 23:14), Olivia Fasnaugh (64th, 23:32), Emily McLaughlin (65th, 23:32), Ella Nielsen (72nd, 24:35), Anna Feuerbach (75th, 25:10).

After two impressive meets on Tuesday and Thursday, Coach Havens rested most of his varsity top seven and moved some of the junior varsity runners up to run the varsity race. Senior Tanner Reimann led the way for Clear Lake, placing 65th in 19:09. Ethan Evelsizer was 67th in 19:15 and Vladmir Starrett was 75th in 19:31.  Other promising young runners included Owen Smith (84th, 20:05), Caleb Jones (85th, 20:05) and Liam Byrnes (104th, 21:20).

Maddie Leisure ran in the JV race, placing 48th in 26:12, and Kristina Miller was 59th in 28:12.

In the boys JV race Ethan Zickefoose was 55th in 22:08, Hudson Uetz and Easton Goeman were 64th and 65th respectively in 22:37 and 22:40.  Privo Joty placed 76th in 23:46.