McConeghey, Hostetter lead C-M harriers at L-S

LYNNVILLE — Colfax-Mingo junior Abbey McConeghey still has a ways to go before she’s fully back to her normal self.

McConeghey has ran competitively only twice since suffering an injury last winter during basketball season. The recovery has been long, but McConeghey took another step forward on Sept. 13 at the Lynnville-Sully Invitational

McConeghey earned her first medal of the season and dropped 33 seconds off her time from Sept. 10. Her 15th-place finish Thursday was tops for the Tigerhawks at Diamond Trail Golf Course.

“It’s getting better. It wasn’t as mentally challenging today,” McConeghey said. “It’s hard to know where I am at exactly, but I know there’s a lot of work still to do.”

McConeghey was joined on the medal stand by senior teammate Ilia Hostetter, who was 17th overall.

Host Lynnville-Sully took third place as a team after putting their five scoring runners in the first 37 positions.

Lynnville-Sully trailed champion and Class 1A No. 6 Pekin (34) and Collins-Maxwell (55).

English Valleys (114) was 30 points behind L-S in fourth and Colfax-Mingo (117) placed fifth. The final team in the standings was Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, which scored 119 points in sixth.

Pekin won the boys’ team race, too, with 39 points. The fifth-ranked Panthers were nine points better than Pella Christian (48). EBF (105), Collins-Maxwell (119) and Montezuma (127) rounded out the first five, and Colfax-Mingo was sixth with 131 points.

Southeast Warren (154) and North Mahaska (163) completed the eight-team field.

Colfax-Mingo did not have a medalist on the boys’ side, The top finisher was junior Hunter Green, who was 24th. Senior Cauy Fitch was 26th.

McConeghey finished her second 5K of the season in 23 minutes, 53.4 seconds. She ran with Hostetter most of the way before pulling away in the final stages of the race. Hostetter finished her run in 23:58.7.

“Her and Ilia are running strong together,” Colfax-Mingo co-head coach Zach Tomas said. “Ilia is running some of her best times of her career. I think right now staying together is good for both of them. It’s good for Abbey to pace with someone, and it’s good for Ilia to stay competitive and stay ahead of her times from last year.”

Senior Delaney Underwood, sophomore Crystal Lincoln and senior Payton Rhone were the other three scoring runners. Underwood was 43rd in 26:57.7, Lincoln was 44th in 27:13.8 and Rhone finished in 48th with a time of 27:43.7.

The other Tigerhawk runners were sophomore Daytin Chadwick in 51st, senior Colbee Cunningham in 54th, junior Chelsey Atwood in 56th and sophomore Brennan Rhone in 66th.

McConeghey, Hostetter, Underwood and Lincoln all had season-best times, according to Tomas.

“We saw some real good things,” Tomas said. “After Monday’s meet, we felt like we were behind. But today we didn’t. It’s crazy how the season can go sometimes. We competed well against some conference schools.”

Green and Fitch continue to lead the Tigerhawk boys. On Sept. 13, Green was a few positions off a medal in 24th with a time of 21:01.9. Fitch finished four seconds later in 26th with a time of 21:05.5.

C-M freshman Coleman Craig continues to improve with each meet. He was 32nd with a time of 21:50.7. Sophomore A.J. Gibson was four minutes faster than his time on this same course last year, finishing in 39th with a time of 22:39.

The final scoring runner was junior Cyden Fitch, who crossed the finish line in 43rd with a time of 22:53.7. Sophomore Avery Lees ended up 53rd.

“If you look at our conference, the boys have a shot this year,” Tomas said. “We run so much as a pack that it will benefit us come conference time. We don’t have that one lead guy, but Hunter and Cauy are right behind the lead pack and the rest of our guys are right in there.

“I am very proud of all of our kids. We had several PRs on a tough course and a tough night with it being our second meet of the week. We are doing some good things and moving in the right direction.”

Colfax-Mingo competed at BGM on Sept. 17. The Tigerhawks return to action at 4:15 p.m. on Sept. 25 in Knoxville.