March 18, 2024

Hawk girls run third at Knoxville; nine area runners earn medals

KNOXVILLE — Mixing it up on the cross country course with larger school competition, Lynnville-Sully’s girls continue to land in the top three team places. The Hawk girls placed third at Tuesday’s Knoxville Invitational.

Pella, a Class 3A school, won both the girls’ and boys’ team titles. Another 3A school, Oskaloosa, took second in both the varsity races.

Lynnville-Sully, one of two Class 1A teams competing in the girls’ varsity race, scored 89 points for third. Pella was first with 28 points. Two area Class 2A girls’ teams — Prairie City-Monroe and Pella Christian — finished seventh and eighth, respectively.

On the boys’ side, Pella Christian was sixth, and Lynnville-Sully placed eighth. PCM’s boys were 12th.

“We, again, faced mostly big school competition on a course that has some challenging hills,” said Darin Arkema, Lynnville-Sully head coach. “With our homecoming week taking place and all of the activities that are going on, I was happy that our meet was early in the week and kids weren’t too distracted.”

Arkema said the Hawk varsity girls had another strong finish against the level of competition they need to be going against entering October and preparing for the conference and state qualifying meets. The varsity boys got a good lesson on why all seven guys who start the race make an impact on the team score and not just the first five across the finish line, he said.

“Our guys finished in a three-way tie for eighth but our sixth runner was ahead of the other two teams. Eighth out of fourteen sounds a whole lot better than tenth and only five points out of seventh,” Arkema said.

Nine area runners earned medal in the varsity races.

Lynnville-Sully’s girls placed four in the top 20, claiming medals. Alexa Vander Leest led the way, running the 4K in 17 minutes, 27 seconds for sixth. Cori Rice placed 16th in 18:19, followed by Karli Roozeboom in 18th in 18:35, and Tara Vos in 20th at 18:46.

Elizabeth Van Manen and Line Ascanius each finished the race in 20 minutes to take 34th and 35th, respectively. Kasiah Ehresman was 44th in 21:07.

PCM’s Rachel Stafford earned the 14th-place medal in 18:11, and teammate Rachel Peter was 17th in 18:31. Kayla Schakel placed 49th in 21:27. Shelby Palm finished in 55th in 22:34, and Amber Beener was 70th in 25:13.

“Kayla, Shelby, and Amber Beener all improved by over a minute compared to last week in Monroe,” said Eric Karr, PCM head coach.

Pella Christian’s girls were paced by Chloe Dembski, who placed 31st in 19:37. Morgan Anderson was 37th in 20:12, followed by Andrea Carballo in 43rd at 20:53, Darmaris Worthington in 47th at 21:21, Abby Van Soelen in 52nd at 21:58, and Marina Shannon in 54th at 22:22.

Pella Christian’s Jacob Lensing claimed the 10th-place medal in the varsity boys’ race. He ran the 5K course in 18:17. Grant Dunsbergen was 26th in 12:44, Jonathan Beltman placed 36th in 19:55, Scott Haveman was 46th in 20:49, and Samuel Dahm finished 52nd in 21:07.

“This was against tough competition. We had very good places,” said Jocelyn Meinders, Pella Christian head coach. “I was very impressed with our athletes’ performances on the hills. Everyone looked very strong. We also had very solid finishes.”

Canyon Kuhlmann, Lynnville-Sully, earned a medal for 14th, running the race in 18:43. Talon Woods was 53rd in 21:08, followed by Jake Brand in 55th at 21:13, Ben Trettin in 58th at 21:29, and Luke Jones in 67th at 22:00. Nic Lirio placed 70th in 22:21, and Jim Trettin was 73rd in 22:31.

PCM’s Mustang boys were led by Matt Chizek, taking 18th in 19:08. Chris Ellens was 63rd in 21:39, and Trenton Howard placed 77th in 23:00. Mark Bruxvoort finished 83rd in 24:07, Connor Brey was 91st in 25:13, and Lucas Rains was 93rd in 28:01.

“The level of competition was intense.  We faced some really big schools and some really fast runners,” Karr said about the PCM teams.  “I think we competed well on a tough course and the times showed.  I keep reminding my runners to compete for place finishes, not time.  The place you finish gets you to state, not your time.  With one month from the state meet, it’s time to turn it up at practice for a couple of weeks.  Effort and mental toughness are going to have to be the top priority at practices.”

Here are the junior varsity results for two of the area teams:

Pella Christian: girls-55. Danielle Nardini, 24:19, 70. Brianna Van Donselaar, 26:59; boys-46. Gabriel Soler, 21:25, 68. Sam Lensing, 22:50, 86. Kelvin Ouyang, 31:01, 97. David Dykstra, 31:06, 99. Zack Shen, 31:10, 100. Alek Vink, 31:11.

Lynnville-Sully: girls-27. Alexis Hardenbrook, 21:24, 29. Kristine Jaennette, 21:33, 30. Kristy Sevcik, 21:45; boys-67. Bayley Morvant, 22:47, 91. Lauri Ryyppo, 24:45, 93. Kordell, Mueller, 24:51, 102. Lucas Smith. 27:14.

Here are the junior high results for the three schools: (3K distance, 10 medals)

Lynnville-Sully: boys-48. Lucas Roland, 13:26, 111. Brett Maasdam, 17:44, 112. Jared Bassett, 17:51, 114. Mason Dunsbergen, 18:07.

PCM: boys-29. Brady North, 12:32, 66. Jon Heath, 14:18, 74. Brendon Vanderpool, 14:45; girls-14. Baylee Smith, 13:11, 15. Ellie Steenhoek, 13:13, 45. Allison Stafford, 14:51, 48. Payton Schutt, 15:11, 70. Sara Dudley, 15:34, 82. Kayleigh Fenton, 15:45, 89. Caitlyn Walters, 16:14, 105. Maddie Buys, 17:23, 111. Alex Inskeep, 18:09.

Pella Christian: boys-16. Nathan VerMeer, 12:09, 24. Noah Van Maanen, 12:27, 32. Lucas Bandstra, 12:42, 44. Martin Landazurri, 13:19, 75. Michael Munoz, 14:47, 51. Sam Carmichael, 15:38; girls-21. Claire Milligan, 13:35, 28. Josie Te Grotenhuis, 14:10, 88. Abby Te Grotenhuis, 16:04.