Lynnville-Sully girls capture home meet title

LYNNVILLE — Diamond Trail Golf Course presents a challenging cross country course for all runners, including host Lynnville-Sully’s Hawks. Weather forced Lynnville-Sully to postpone its invitational meet last Thursday, moving it to Monday.

“Even with just five high school teams, we were challenged by good competition as well as the race course itself,” Lynnville-Sully head coach Darin Arkema said. “Our home meet course is tough. There is just no way of setting up the running route and avoiding the hills out on our golf course.”

The two runners who met the challenge the best were Class 1A girls’ 10th-ranked Dakota Hostetter of Colfax-Mingo and Southeast Warren’s Bryant Seuferer. The two won the individual championships for the high school girls and boys divisions.

Hostetter ran the 5K race in 22 minutes, 37 seconds for the girls’ top medal. Seuferer claimed the top medal for the boys’ 5K race in 18:23. There were 20 medals awarded in each division.

Lynnville-Sully’s girls placed three runners in the top seven to edge out Prairie City-Monroe for the team title, 54 to 57. Pella Christian was third with 70 points, and Colfax-Mingo was fourth with 85 points.

Southeast Warren and Pella Christian each scored 41 points to share the top team honors. PCM ended up third with 52 points followed by Lynnville-Sully with 116 and Colfax-Mingo with 166.

“This could possibly be the hardest course we run on this year. Both sides had some incredible performances,” PCM head coach Eric Karr said. “One thing I really want the team to take away from this is that times are not the most important thing in a cross country race. Places are the most important thing. We are about a month out from state qualifying, and I’m really happy with where we are at as a team.”

In the boys’ race, it was the first time this season Lynnville-Sully had five runners at the starting line. Arkema said Kyle Kramer, Jared Basset and Caleb Jansen were late joiners to the team and finally got through enough practices and workouts to be ready for their first race.

Lynnville-Sully’s Canyon Kuhlmann led the area boys in the race, finishing second in 19:01 followed by five PCM runners. Chris Ellens ran third in 19:12 with teammates Trent Howard and Blake Lee in ninth and 10th, respectively, in 21:16 and 21:17.

Noah Henkenius finished 14th in 21:31 and Brady North was 16th in 21:41 for the Mustangs. Lynnville-Sully’s Lucas Jones captured the 19th-place medal in 22:26.

“Canyon raced out to the early lead. I think he was excited for the home meet his senior year, but this type of course can make you pay later in the race if you expend to much energy early on,” Arkema said. “We will continue to work on race strategy and running more evenly.”

Arkema said Jones ran well and Kramer, who was 26th in 23:36, ran a smart race in his first competition. Kramer passed several runners over the last two miles of the race.

The top runner for Colfax-Mingo was Cauy Furgison in 22nd in 22:49. Nic Duffy finished 31st in 24:30.

“This was certainly one of the toughest courses we will see this season and our times reflected that fact,” Colfax-Mingo head coach Zach Tomas said. “We also realize you are not going to PR every meet, and this season is full of ups and downs.”

Colfax-Mingo’s Dakota Hostetter had a strong race on Diamond Trail, winning the race. PCM’s Jayci Vos paced her team with a third-place finish in 23:49. Thirteen area runners earned medals in the girls’ race.

The Hawk girls took their coach’s pre-race talk to heart and ran well on their home course for the team title.

“I told them I didn’t think there was a team here they couldn’t run with and beat as a team. Knowing previous meet results, I just felt our girls could compete to win the meet, but it was going to take a great effort,” Arkema said.

Marissa Vos led a 4-6-7 finish by the Lynnville-Sully girls. Marissa Vos posted a fourth-place time of 24:12 with Ida Byggeth in sixth at 25:32 and Kasiah Ehresman in seventh at 25:54.

Arkema pointed to Ehresman as key to the Hawk girls’ team victory. He said he challenged Ehresman to race tough and close the gap between herself and Byggeth.

“Initially she was holding back, but after a half mile, she broke out of her comfort zone and went for it. I know the race hurt a lot more for her tonight than it has, but she proved to herself her capabilities. If she finishes where she had been coming in, the girls don’t win,” Arkema said.

PCM’s Megan Townley crossed the finish line in ninth with a time of 26:16 followed by teammate Payton Schut in 13th in 26:48. Colfax-Mingo’s Illia Hostetter claimed 14th in 26:57.

PCM’s Rachel Stafford and Lynnville-Sully’s Haley James battled right at the finish line. Stafford edging James as they went 15th and 16th in 26:58.05 and 26:58.56. Morgan Novak of PCM placed 17th in 27:74 followed by Colfax-Mingo’s Colleen Craig in 27:51 for 18th and PCM’s Morgan Uhlenhopp in 19th at 28:05.

Karr said PCM’s Townley for the girls and Howard for the boy had great races.

Other finishers for the PCM boys were: 24. Bradley McClellan, 23:25, 27. Mark Bruxvoort, 23:39, 28. Caleb Peter, 23:45, 29. Andres Vargas, 23:46, 30. Braden Phifer, 24.17, 32. Max Van Gorp, 24:39, 42. Jonathan Heath, 30:39, 44. Will Dunsburgen, 32:42.

Other finishers for Lynnville-Sully boys were: 34. Bassett, 24:43 and 35. Caleb Jansen, 24:49.

Other finishers for Colfax-Mingo boys were: 36. Mike Martinez, 24:53, 38. Jordan Lescaleef, 26:10, 39. K.C. Huffman, 26:25, 41. Jacob Frier, 30:20.

Other finishers for Lynnville-Sully girls were: 21. Kristine Jaennette, 29:15, 24. Hailey Scandridge, 30:19, 26. Haley Breeden, 32:04, 30. Rebecca Morningstar, 35:28, 31. Alexis Hardenbrook, 35:29.

Other finishers for PCM girls were: 22. Sara Dudley, 29:30, 23. Kiara Kappleman, 29:45, 28. Mallery Downey, 32:48, 29. Mallory Bell, 34:45.

Other finishers for Colfax-Mingo girls were: 25. Morgan McKinney, 31:46 and 27. Payton Rhone, 32:06.

Lynnville-Sully and Colfax-Mingo travel to Monroe Thursday for the PCM Invitational.

There was a 1.5-mile junior high race at Monday’s meet. Here are the area results:

2. Jason Stafford PCM 10:38

3. Owen Hugen PCM 10:49

4. Abbey McConeghey Colfax Mingo 10:58

11. Emma George PCM 11:45

13. Sayde White PCM 12:00

14. Jacob Cox PCM 12:02

18. Megan Van Zante Lynnville-Sully 12:11

20. Garin Padget PCM 12:20

21. Klaire Jungling PCM 12:24

23. Garrett Graber PCM 12:50

30. Rachel Smith Colfax Mingo 13:20.83

32. Katie Henkenius PCM 13:33

34. Hadley Tice Lynnville-Sully 13:37

35. Ayrton Breckenridge PCM 13:45

36. Natalie Smith PCM 13:46

37. Crystal Lincoln Colfax Mingo 13:47

40. Heather Young Lynnville-Sully 13:58

42. Breanna Vanderpool PCM 14:11

43. Emma Thomas PCM 14:15

44. Jodine Woods Colfax Mingo 14:30

45. Taylor Eilander PCM 14:37

49. Kimee Gallaher PCM 18:02

53. Blake VanDerKamp PCM 19:00

53. Zoey Emmack PCM 19:12

54. Summer Weber Colfax Mingo 19:26

55. Miranda McGill Colfax Mingo 19:32

56. Emma McHargue PCM 20:24

Contact Jocelyn Sheets at
641-792-3121 ext. 6535
or jsheets@newtondailynews.com