April 26, 2024

Raider runners have expectations of another state appearance

By Troy Hyde

Members of the 2015 Collins-Maxwell/Baxter boys’ and girls’ cross country teams are (left to right) front row, Chasity Moody, Stephanie Twohey, Courtney Clapper and Shasta Moody; middle row, Anna Jones, Heather Jessen, Veronica Condon, Brenna Thomson and Carter Fricke; back row, Josh Duntz, Austin Galbraith, McCade Gowdy, Noah Rhoades, Maxwell Van Maanen, Brady Ross, Ian Thomson and Eric Wagner. Not pictured: Lauren Ratliff, Winter Brown, Elizabeth Jones, Curtis Jones and Addison Swaab. (Troy Hyde)

BAXTER — The depth of the girls’ cross country team at Collins-Maxwell/Baxter has ninth-year-coach Jerry Meinerts excited to begin a new season.

Last year, the gap between Meinerts’ top runners — Heather Jessen and Winter Brown — to the final varsity runner was wide. In 2015, that gap is expected to be much tighter and with some injury luck and positive improvement throughout the season, the Raiders feel like they have the depth to return to the state cross country meet at the end of October.

Jessen and Brown return as the top runners from last year’s squad. The difference this year, Meinerts feels, is other teammates should be much closer to them in the final standings.

“The girls are a lot deeper this year,” said Meinerts, whose Raider squad went to the state meet four years ago. “We have lots of girls in practice that have been right with Heather and Winter.”

The squad includes four seniors, four juniors and three freshmen. Chasity Moody and Stephanie Twohey are two seniors who ran on CMB’s most recent state meet squad. Elizabeth Jones and Courtney Clapper are the two other seniors.

Jessen and Brown headline the junior class that also includes Anna Jones and Veronica Condon. The three freshmen are Brenna Thomson, Shasta Moody and Lauren Ratliff.

“This is a pretty deep team,” Meinerts said. “If we can get six or seven girls up there with Winter and Heather, we’ll be in pretty good shape. I don’t think any of those girls will go out and dominate a race individually, but together as a pack, we can win some meets. We’ll try to get top three at most of our meets and hopefully we’re top three at regionals. That’s what they wrote down as a goal.”

A top-three finish at the state qualifier on Oct. 22 would push the Raiders into the state meet in Fort Dodge on Oct. 31. The top 15 individuals also advance, which is five more than in recent years. The girls’ distance also changes from a 4K to a 5K, which is the same distance the boys run.

“When the news came out, there was that initial shock. But now that the season has started, there hasn’t been much talk about it,” Meinerts said. “It’s not a whole lot different. Not much has changed for me. We’ve bumped them up a little bit, but you don’t want to overtrain them.”

The CMB boys roster does not feature a single senior. The lineup, instead, includes juniors Curtis Jones and Brady Ross, sophomores Carter Fricke, Austin Galbraith, Noah Rhoades and Max Van Maanen and freshmen Josh Bruntz, McCade Gowdy, Addison Swaab, Ian Thomson and Eric Wagner.

Meinerts lost two state qualifiers — Mark Deutsch and Colin Thomson — to graduation and two other would-be returners open enrolled to other school districts. That leaves Fricke and Van Maanen as the only two runners back from last year’s varsity squad.

Van Maanen was the three or four and Fricke was six or seven a year ago. This season, Meinerts expects them to be at the top along with Ian Thomson, who is Colin Thomson’s younger brother and Brenna Thomson’s twin.

“Both of those guys are well ahead of where they were last year when they ran on varsity as freshmen,” Meinerts said of Van Maanen and Fricke. “The put in a lot of miles this summer and appear to be in much better shape.

“I think Ian Thomson will be right up there with those other two guys. He ran well as an eighth-grader and training with those two will make him better every day.”

Getting better every day is the message Meinerts is trying to send to his boys team this fall. He doesn’t expect super fast times early on, but hopes they get better with every meet.

“After the top three, it’s an open competition for the rest of the spots,” Meinerts said. “They’ll learn a lot more about where they stand as we go. All we can ask is that we keep improving each meet.”