Jungling, Townley lead PCM girls at Colfax-Mingo

COLFAX — Lynnville-Sully was not scheduled to run a cross country meet at Colfax-Mingo this season.

But heavy rains and inclement weather forced several postponements and cancellations the past 10 days.

The Hawks took advantage of their invitation to the Tigerhawk Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 20.

Three runners earned medals for top 10 finishes, and Lynnville-Sully was second overall in the girls’ team standings.

“It wasn’t a meet we were supposed to go to, but we had to change things around due to the rain,” Lynnville-Sully coach Darin Arkema said.

“It worked out well to go to Colfax instead of Pleasantville because most of our girls ran on this course last year.”

Sophomores Megan Van Zante, Meleisha Vos and Caitlin Alberts all brought home medals and junior Abby Gruver also found her way into the top 20 as the Hawks scored 69 points in second place.

Collins-Maxwell won the meet with 41 after placing its five scoring runners in the first 17 positions.

Lynnville-Sully edged Class 2A PCM by five points. The Mustangs’ had two finishers in the top 10, and their top runner from last year, senior Kirstin Ives, is still working her way back from an injury she suffered in the spring.

“This was a tough course, and if we were comparable to Iowa State time wise, I would say we are making serious progress,” PCM coach Eric Karr said. “We had some really good times. We had some season personal best times.”

Central Decatur was a distant fourth behind PCM with 100 points.

Mount Ayr was next with 113 points, Colfax-Mingo was sixth with 118 points and Ogden finished seventh with 177 points. Interstate 35, Martensdale-St. Marys, Melcher-Dallas and Saydel all had incomplete teams.

The top finisher for PCM was junior Klaire Jungling, who was the runner-up with a time of 23 minutes, 9 seconds. Senior Megan Townley ended up fourth with a time of 23:14. Ives was 25th overall with a time of 26:05.

“We ran well. Our top runners who need to be near the top of races are doing that,” Karr said. “They are right where I want them to be right now. They are competing well and they probably will continue to go back and forth. They are doing exactly what I want them to do.”

PCM’s other two scoring runners after Jungling, Townley and Ives were senior Hannah Bouwkamp and sophomore Margo Chipps. Bouwkamp was 27th with a time of 26:27 and Chipps finished 32nd in 26:53.

The final two varsity runners were junior Hannah McCarthy and sophomore Emma George, who were 41st and 47th, respectively. Freshman Taryn Steenhoek was 57th, junior Natalie Smith was 60th, senior Sara Dudley was 67th and freshman Hanna Townley ended up 73rd.

PCM hosts its annual meet at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 20 at Gateway Recreation Golf Course in Monroe.