March 19, 2024

CMB, PCM girls go 1-2 in opener

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AMES — In a season where the Collins-Maxwell/Baxter girls cross country team has put high expectations on itself, the Raiders got off to a perfect start on the Iowa State cross country course.

Class 2A No. 9 CMB cruised to the team title in the Class B standings after its top four runners finished 2-3-4-5 and the final scoring runner was 10th. The Raiders scored 24 points and cleared runner-up Prairie City-Monroe by 54 points.

Junior Ashlee Johnson, who was West Marshall’s No. 1 runner for most of last season, was the Raiders’ top runner Thursday. She crossed the finish line second with a time of 21 minutes, 51.88 seconds.

Her teammates — sophomore Brenna Thomson, senior Heather Jessen and sophomore Lauren Ratliff — were third, fourth and fifth, respectively, while sophomore Shasta Moody came across 10th.

“I couldn’t be more happy for our girls than I am right now,” CMB coach Jerry Meinerts said. “The girls executed the race plan perfectly and looked strong throughout the race.”

All seven of PCM’s varsity runners came across in the first 24 positions, but its best finisher — sophomore Paytan Schut — finished 12th overall.

After Schut came sophomore Kirstin Ives and senior Jayci Vos in 13th and 14th, respectively. Junior Baylee Smith, sophomore Megan Townley, freshman Klaire Jungling and senior Rachel Stafford rounded out the varsity lineup in 19th, 20th, 22nd and 24th, respectively.

The time between Johnson crossing in second and Ratliff in fourth was about a minute for CMB. All four runners stopped the clock in less than 23 minutes. Moody’s 10th place tally was clocked at 23:33.13.

“I think we might have gotten out a little quick on that first mile, but that is to be expected on your first race of the year,” Meinerts said. “It is a blessing to have a hardworking crew like what we have this year. They work together, train together and race together.”

CMB freshman Holly Jessen was the Raiders’ sixth runner. She finished 16th. The seventh and final varsity runner for CMB was senior Anna Jones, who came across in 28th.

“They have been running well in the preseason, so it was nice to see them put it all together tonight,” Meinerts said. “Now, we get back to work.”

PCM’s 78 points were 11 better than third place West Marshall, while Colo-NESCO (151) and Earlham (151) were fourth and fifth, respectively.

Earlham freshman Eva Fisk was the overall winner in 21:14.24.