L-S' Smock rallies for first SICL cross country win

NORTH ENGLISH — Lynnville-Sully freshman Greenlee Smock stayed the course during the South Iowa Cedar League girls' 5K race on Tuesday.

While North Mahaska senior Cheyenne Shaw and Colfax-Mingo senior Abbey McConeghey got out fast, Smock ran her race, stayed close and made sure she was in it the entire way.

That strategy turned out in her favor at Knoll Ridge Country Club as Smock rallied past Shaw in the final few feet to win her first conference championship.

"I started slow and wanted to stay behind the leaders for the first mile. Then the goal was to push myself as hard as I could at the end," Smock said. "I kept a good mindset throughout the race and pushed harder as I went. This feels really good."

Shaw won the conference championship last year and as a freshman. McConeghey was the SICl champion as a sophomore. Smock can now add her name to the list after finishing in 20 minutes, 35.89 seconds.

Smock, who is ranked 29th in Class 1A, edged 14th-ranked Shaw at the line by .66 seconds. McConeghey ended up third followed by Montezuma junior Elise Boulton in fourth.

"I kind of thought she was speeding up, but I just figured I would push it harder and see what happened," Smock said about her finish against Shaw. "She was pushing but I pushed harder."

It was the third win of the season for Smock and the first against Shaw.

"I am so happy for Greenlee to finally beat Shaw," L-S coach Darin Arkema said. "She kept inching closer over the course of the race and put herself in position down the stretch to be able to out-sprint (Shaw) to the line. This win should provide a little extra boost over the next week getting ready for state qualifying."

Lynnville-Sully came into the day knowing it had to chase down Montezuma to have a shot at the team title. Three Hawks received all-conference honors, but the Bravettes were 10 points better in the team race.

Montezuma won the team title with 42 points. Lynnville-Sully was second with 52, followed by North Mahaska (82), Colfax-Mingo (96), BGM (103) and Belle Plaine (122).

"We knew we had to have great races from all seven runners and maybe get some help from Montezuma to not run its best," Arkema said. "I was extremely proud of the effort given by our girls despite coming up short or being conference champions."

McConeghey's third-place time was clocked at 21:39.59. Boulton came across the finish line in 22:09.57.

Getting out fast was the plan for McConeghey.

"I tried to go out fast and stay with Cheyenne as long as I could," McConeghey said. "There are times during the race that I know I can do better. I lose focus sometimes. But it's all mental right now. I just need to be right mentally. That's what cross country is all about."

Lynnville-Sully junior Caitlin Alberts joined Smock and McConeghey as first-team all-conference runners. The top five finishers are first team, the next five are second team and the 11th and 12th finishers are honorable mention.

C-M co-head coach Jacob Crouse said the plan was for McConeghey to run as close as the top two as possible.

"We have seen her return to form this year, but the competition is different," Crouse said. "It's not for lack of effort. She has worked as hard as maybe anyone we've had since we've been coachng. She runs before school with other teachers and is constantly in our ears about how to be better. She gave us everything she had."

Alberts' time was clocked at 22:36.93. L-S junior Megan Van Zante was one of the honorable mention all-conference runners in 11th with a time of 23:53.9.

"I just tried to stay positive throughout the race," Alberts said. "We knew Montezuma was going to be the team to beat so we all just tried to identify their runners and try to run with them."

The remaining Hawks were freshman Kinsley Tice in 17th with a time of 24:45.15, senior Brittany Hansen in 18th with a time of 24:55.4, senior Abby Gruver in 21st with a time of 25:24.14 and freshman Kendra Fikse was 26th in 25:36.86.

"Credit to Montezuma and congratulations to them," Arkema said. "They raced well and earned the championship. Our girls all had great races so it wasn't from a lack of effort or execution on our part."

Finishing after McConeghey for Colfax-Mingo was sophomore Judith Goetz, who finished 19th with a time of 25:12.22.

Freshman Carley Underwood was 23rd in 25:29.62, senior Chelsey Atwood took 24th in 25:33.82 and freshman Caylee Cunningham was the final scoring runner in 31st with a time of 26:27.76.

Senior Jodine Woods ended up 34th in 27:04.37 and freshman Joslyn Chadwick completed the varsity runners in 38th with a time of 27:49.30.

"We lost a huge cluster of seniors last year," Crouse said. "We had to reset this year and had a lot of youth. We have gotten better and better this year. We've developed and I think we were a positive surprise today."

The other five Tigerhawks who ran on the 5K course Tuesday were junior Daytin Chadwick (28:15.24) in 40th, junior Lilly Gregor (29:15.52) in 43rd, freshman Felicity Woods (30:10.88) in 48th, junior Brennan Rhone (32:22.17) in 56th and sophomore Kirsten Frier (33:17.01) in 57th.

Both Colfax-Mingo and Lynnville-Sully next compete at state qualifying meets on Oct. 24. The Tigerhawks will be in Class 2A and the Hawks will compete in 1A but sites for those meets have yet to be announced.