Lynnville-Sully’s Kuhlmann runs in top 10 at Saydel

DES MOINES — The last time Canyon Kuhlmann competed on a cross country course, he was the only runner representing the Lynnville-Sully boys cross country team.

Monday, Kuhlmann had company and after he crossed the line in seventh at the Saydel Invitational, he ventured backwards to cheer on teammate Lucas Jones.

The Hawks will have a few more runners and be eligible for a team finish in a few meets, but for now, Kuhlmann and Jones will go at it as a two-man show.

Kuhlmann was up front the entire 5K at Saydel and his seventh-place time was clocked at 18 minutes, 57.81 seconds. Jones wound up 44th in 22:22.06.

Collins-Maxwell/Baxter had a full team and was seventh in the team standings with 140 points.

Freshman Ian Thomson paced the Raiders in 17th and sophomore Carter Fricke was two spots back in 19th. Thomson crossed the line in 19:38.42, and Fricke hit the line in 19:53.05.

“The hills were really tough. This is the toughest course we’ve had this year. The hills wore me out,” Thomson said.

The rest of the counting finishes included sophomore Max Van Maanen in 23rd, Josh Bruntz in 32nd and Curtis Jones in 66th. Brady Ross was 71st and Addison Swaab finished 73rd as the final two varsity runners.

“Our top four guys ran well tonight,” CMB coach Jerry Meinerts said. “I am proud of the strides they have made this season. Those guys are really young, and they are in there competing against upperclassmen.

“Now we need our No. 5-7 guys to continue getting in shape and starting to really close the gap.”

South Hamilton won the team title with 52 points, edging Madrid/Woodward-Granger by two points. Southeast Valley was third with 89, Saydel was fourth with 98 and Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR rounded out the top five with 127 points.

David Parker of Saydel won his home meet in 17:48.49, while Madrid’s Josh Henriksen and Carson Polich were second and third, respectively.

South Hamilton’s top finisher was Gaige Pickering in sixth and the Hawks also had two more in the top 10 and their top five were in the first 16 positions.

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 race started with a jog across Saydel’s turf football field, too.

“I was really shocked we ran across a football field to start the race,” Kuhlmann said. “I thought that’s why we went out for cross country, so we didn’t have to go on a football field.”