April 23, 2024

CMB’s pack nets title, Hawks finish fifth

By Troy Hyde

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter’s girls cross country squad won the Saydel Invitational team title Monday after four runners finished in the top 10. Helping the Raiders win the team title were (from left) Lauren Ratliff (368), Brenna Thomson (369), Anna Jones (364) and Shasta Moody (367). (Troy Hyde)

DES MOINES — Collins-Maxwell/Baxter junior Heather Jessen performs better when she has a few teammates to run with.

CMB’s pack was impressive at the Saydel Invitational on Monday and four top-10 finishes pushed the Raiders to the team championship.

Jessen wound up fifth overall but her teammates weren’t very far behind. Freshman Brenna Thomson crossed in seventh, freshman Lauren Ratliff ended up eighth and freshman Shasta Moody finished in 10th as the Raiders scored 44 points overall.

“When we run as a pack, we are able to push each other to run harder and compete longer so I think that benefited us tonight,” Jessen said. “I tried to push a little harder up the hills, and I think it worked well for me tonight.”

That was well ahead of runner-up Southeast Valley (80).

Madrid was third with 90 points, Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR scored 93 in fourth and Lynnville-Sully had 115 to round out the top five. BCLUW (156), Saydel (162), South Hamilton (162) and Clarke (229) also were in the nine-team field.

“We thought we had a chance to win the meet tonight,” CMB coach Jerry Meinerts said. “I didn’t know Southeast Valley was here and they beat us at Greene County, but our girls were zoned in tonight.”

Lynnville-Sully’s top finisher was senior Marissa Vos, who was 13th with a time of 24 minutes, 36.58 seconds. Junior Ida Byggeth was 17th in 25:10.76 and senior Kasiah Ehresman claimed a top-25 spot with a 25th-place finish in 26:29.86.

Southeast Valley and IFA-AGWSR had the four spots, but CMB won because of its depth.

Natalie Lambert of Southeast Valey won the meet in 21:40.95 and IFA-AGWSR’s Bethany Lippert was second in 21:49.41.

Jessen finished her 5K in 23:08.63. Thomson was less than 7 seconds behind in 23:15.31 and Ratliff crossed in 23:16.27. Moody’s 10th-place finished was clocked at 23:47.15 and the final counting runner was senior Chasity Moody, who was 14th in 24:44.14.

“The start was great and they kept our lead pack together as long as they could,” Meinerts said. “Heather, Brenna and Lauren have been lights out all year. Shasta and Chasity both ran well and competed well tonight, too.

“I can’t believe we had our top five in the first 14 spots in a field that featured 90 runners. I am very proud of our girls. I hope to carry this momentum into the next couple of meets.”

Anna Jones finished 26th for CMB, while Stephanie Twohey was 35th and Courtney Clapper finished 37th.

After Ehresman, Haley James was 29th for Lynnville-Sully. She crossed in 26:49.20 and Kristine Jaennette was 31st in 27:02.99 and was the final counting runner.

The course was a bit unusual as half of it took place through several hills in cross country land and the rest of it was near Saydel High School.

The runners jogged behind the outfield fence of the baseball field a few times, zig zagged between the baseball field and track and finished on the track going the opposite way around it.

“The course was a little harder than normal,” Jessen said. “It was a little weird running the opposite way around the track.”

CMB competes on Lynnville-Sully’s turf at 4:30 p.m. Thursday. The Raiders are at West Marshall on Oct. 22 and the Hawks head to PCM on Oct. 24.