March 18, 2024

Hawk harriers open season at Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG — Lynnville-Sully’s boys and girls cross country teams finished 10th in each of their divisions at Tuesday’s Williamsburg Invitational.

“The first meet of every season provides a starting point which we can measure ourselves to find out where we are at,” Hawk head coach Darin Arkema said. “This meet provides us with a lot of quality competition on a course which is fairly flat. When the weather is warm and humid like tonight, it adds to the challenge, so it is nice to not be on a hilly course.”

Junior Josh Dunsbergen was the top runner for the Hawk boys, running the 5K race in 20 minutes, 01 second for 44th. Ty Breeden finished 58th in 21:16 and junior Cody Gibbs placed 60th in 21:36. All three are new to the team this season.

Senior John Trettin, also new to the team, ran the course in 22:25 for 65th place. Jim Trettin, a returning senior, placed 72nd in 25:02.

Mount Pleasant won the 11-team boys’ division with 31 points. Mid-Prairie was second with 63 points and host Williamsburg was third with 101 points. Lynnville-Sully scored 298 points for 10th.

Newcomers paced the Lynnville-Sully girls as well in Tuesday’s season-opening race.

Freshman Abby Gruver led the way finishing 40th in 24.22. Junior Christine Nikkel placed 55th in 25:32 followed by sophomore Emily Van Gorp in 59th in 26:14.

Returning juniors Hailey Scandridge and Haley Breeden finished 63rd and 72nd, respectively in 26:27 and 28:19. In between was freshman Ashton Thompson running the 5K distance in 27:05 for 66th.

“I was very pleased with the efforts and performances I saw and am very encouraged with the work the team has been putting in so far. There were a lot of positives to take away from tonight, and hope each of them came away with a little more confidence,” Arkema said.

Mid-Prairie captured the girls’ division championship with 53 points. Fort Madison was second with 63 points and Williamsburg took third with 102. There were 12 girls’ varsity teams. Lynnville-Sully scored 281 points for 10th.

Lynnville-Sully had four girls running in the junior high 1.5-mile race. Megan Van Zante finished 13th in 11:41 followed by Reagan McFarland in 21st in 12:18, Aliya James in 22nd in 12:24 and Hadley Tice in 32nd in 13:03.

Arkema said comparing times from Tuesday’s races to times from the Hawk runners on the same course a year ago, he found quite a few who were faster.

“I think all of them understand there is more work to be done for continued improvements to be made. Each day there is something they can be working on in practice to make a difference, to get better collectively as a team,” he said.

Lynnville-Sully’s teams run at the Central College high school meet Saturday in Pella. Races begin at 11 a.m. The Hawk runners compete at 5 p.m. Tuesday at Grinnell.

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