March 28, 2024

Mustang girls finish 2nd, C-M 7th at PCM Invite

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MONROE — The Prairie City-Monroe girls’ cross country won its first team title in school history earlier this season.

With the addition of two of the Mustangs’ top three runners from last season, PCM coach Eric Karr expects things to get a whole lot better moving forward.

Junior Jayci Vos once again led the Mustangs on Thursday at the PCM Cross Country Invitational, but sophomore Baylee Smith returned to the lineup and junior Rachel Stafford hit the course for just the second time this season.

That trio, along with freshmen Megan Townley and Payton Schut, helped PCM to a runner-up finish at Gateway Golf Course. The Mustangs finished with 53 points, trailing Knoxville by 18 points.

The top 25 finishers received medals, which included six of the Mustangs’ seven varsity runners. Freshman Morgan Uhlenhopp was 26th overall.

“The goal is to get to state. Our team won a meet this year without us so who knows how good we can be when we are fully healthy,” Stafford said, who finished 17th, cutting around two minutes off her time from her first meet. “Hopefully, we have the rough injury patch out of the way, and we can focus on the rest of the season.”

Stafford was a state qualifier her freshman year.

Now a junior, she ran for the first time Monday at Lynnville-Sully and is still a ways from competing at her highest level, but she is getting better every day.

“I did some swimming to help stay in shape, but I have only been running for about two weeks,” Stafford said. “I haven’t done a full workout at full speed yet, but I improved a lot tonight so hopefully that pattern continues.”

Vos ended up fourth overall with a time of 23 minutes, 38.44 seconds. Smith, Townley and Stafford were 15th, 16th and 17th, respectively, and the final counting runner was Schut in 19th. Senior Morgan Novak also earned a medal, finishing in the 25th position.

After Uhlenhopp’s 26th-place finish was sophomore Amaya Hartson, who also returned from injury and finished 33rd in her first meet of the year.

Colfax-Mingo also competed but was without its top runner in Dakota Hostetter, who suffered a minor ankle injury in volleyball. Her younger sister, freshman Ilia Hostetter, medaled for the fourth time this season as she she finished 20th and that helped the Tigerhawks to a seventh-place finish.

Knoxville won the team race with 35 points. The Panthers claimed positions 8, 10, 11, 12 and 13. Pella Christian (102), Davis County (110) and Centerville (123) rounded out the top five, while Montezuma (144), Colfax-Mingo (154) and Chariton (155) completed the eight-team field.

“Getting some girls back from injury only makes us better as a team, it makes us deeper,” Karr said. “And we have a new goal now. Can we beat Knoxville at their meet on Tuesday? I think we can. I am happy with where we are at and I think we just keep getting better and better.”

Ilia Hostetter was clocked at 25:33.79 to lead the Tigerhawks. The rest of Colfax-Mingo’s lineup included freshman Colleen Craig in 34th, sophomore Morgan McKinney in 38th, freshman Payton Rhone in 41st and freshman Kylie Wellington ran in her first meet of the season and finished in 56th.

“We are so young and I have to remember that,” Colfax-Mingo coach Zach Tomas said. “I think our best is still yet to come. It’s been a roller coaster ride for a lot of our kids. This was a tough meet, but it will do a lot for us moving forward.”

Both Karr and Tomas have stressed to their teams that they need to look at the big picture. It doesn’t matter what happens right now. What’s more important is how the teams fare on Oct. 22 at the state qualifiers.

“I think they are aware now what I mean by we have to be in shape by Oct. 22,” Karr said. “We have plenty of time to get in shape. That’s why I haven’t been too stressed about the times. We just need to keep working.”

Des Moines Christian’s Oksana Covey was the overall winner in 21:57.95. Southeast Warren’s Elise Emmick was next at 22:45.24 and Centerville’s Emily Lewis ended up third in 22:49.17.