March 28, 2024

CMB girls finish third in Nevada Cross Country Invitational

COLO — For the first time this season, the Class 2A No. 6 Collins-Maxwell/Baxter girls cross country team was beaten. The Raiders head-to-head with perhaps their toughest competition of the season and placed third in a 10-team field.

The Raiders scored 69 points after placing six of their seven varsity runners in the top 30. CMB trailed 3A No. 8 Ballard by 27 points and was 11 points back of Heart of Iowa Conference rival North Polk, which is a “team to watch” in 3A.

“I thought our times were great tonight,” CMB coach Jerry Meinerts said. “It was great to be in a race with quality teams and quality individuals. It made us faster. Ballard and North Polk are very good 3A teams.”

Sophomore Ian Thomson and freshman Logan Berg finished fourth and sixth, respectively, in the boys varsity race, but the Raiders wound up seventh in the 10-team field.

“Ian and Logan ran incredible races tonight,” Meinerts said. “They were running against some really good individuals and teams and to finish fourth and sixth in the 17:40s is a great night. These two guys really have a good competition going, and it’s only making them better.”

Leading the CMB girls was sophomore Brenna Thomson in seventh and junior Heather Jessen in eighth.

Brenna Thomson crossed the line in 21 minutes, 4 seconds, while Jessen hit the line six seconds later.

Junior Ashlee Johnson placed 14th overall in 21:46, while sophomore Lauren Ratliff finished 17th in 21:56 and sophomore Shasta Moody was 23rd in 22:23.

The two non-counting varsity runners were freshman Holly Jessen and senior Winter Brown, who finished in 27th and 38th, respectively.

“At about mile two, I think we were in second place,” Meinerts said. “But our girls slipped a little that last mile. We need to fix that here in the next month.”

Iowa Falls-Alden’s Bethany Lippert, who is ranked 29th in 3A, won the girls’ race, while North Polk’s Amelia Lesher was next followed by Iowa Falls-Alden’s Aubrie Fisher finished third.

The South Hamilton boys (58), ranked third in 2A, won the boys’ varsity race by 21 points over host Nevada (79). North Polk (81) was third followed by Gilbert’s JV (91) and Iowa Falls-Alden (129). CMB scored 179 points in seventh.

Ian Thomson crossed the line in 17:43, and Berg crossed the line five seconds later. Josh Bruntz finished in 53rd, Noah Rhoades hit the line in 57th and the final counting varsity runner was Carter Davis in 59th.

Sophomore Brendyn Padget (60th) and Brady Ross (61st) were the two non-scoring runners.

The Raiders competed without No. 3 runner Carter Fricke and No. 4 runner Max Van Maanen, who are both expected to miss a week with injuries. Fricke broke his arm recently and had surgery to reset it recently.

Nevada’s Malachi Hornbuckle, ranked 19th in 3A, won the boys’ race in 17:06.63.