Baxter harriers face tough field at Pella

PELLA — Baxter’s Logan Berg and Kailee Conradi claimed top-15 spots in the Pella High Dutch Cross Country Invitational on Sept. 7. The 5K races were contested on the Central College course in Pella.

Baxter competed in the small-school division. Mid-Prairie swept the team titles in the two races with eight teams in each race.

Berg had the best finish of the day as he ended up second in the boys’ 5K with a time of 17 minutes, 39.7 seconds. The Bolt boys were eighth as a team with 186 points.

On the girls’ side, Conradi finished 14th to lead the Baxter girls. Her 5K time was clocked at 23:05. The Bolt girls were sixth with 150 points.

Mid-Prairie’s sophomore Thaddeus Shetler was the boys’ individual winner in 17:31.9. Senior Marie Hostetler led the Mid-Prairie girls to victory winning the girls’ race in 18:12.3.

Lilie Vansice was the next Baxter girl to hit the finish line as she was clocked at 24:40.5 for 27th place. Holly Jessen finished 28th in 24:46.3, Maya Phelps was 41st in 27:04.4 and Bryn Schultheis finished 59th in 30:41.5. Grace Gruis was a non-scoring runner in 61st as she hit the finish line in 32:55.8.

After Berg, for the Baxter boys, was Sean Finch in 41st with a time of 21:09.7. Will Hitchler finished 57th in 22:40.1, Jalen Porter was 59th in 23:05.5 and Christian Brandt took 61st in 23:33.9.

Baxter competes in the Colfax-Mingo Invitational, which starts at 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 12 at Colfax Country Club.