Third-ranked PCM finishes second, Newton girls take fourth at Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG — There wasn’t a girls cross country team competing in the Williamsburg Raider Invitational that was going to catch Class 2A No. 1 Mid-Prairie on Tuesday.

But 2A No. 3 PCM put four runners in the top 20 and edged 3A No. 13 Williamsburg, while Newton had two top-10 finishers and placed fourth in the 12-team field at the Williamsburg Sports Complex.

“We faced some tough competition today, but it led to many nice time drops,” Newton head girls cross country coach Rachelle Tipton said. “We wanted to be a little closer to third place but overall we’re moving in the right direction.”

Class 2A No. 1 Mid-Prairie, which has four individual runners in the latest state rankings, placed its five scoring runners in the first 13 positions and scored 29 points at the top of the standings.

Five Mustangs finished in the top 22, and that was enough to edge the host Raiders by two points. PCM took second with 77 points, and the rest of the top five included Williamsburg (79), Newton (96) and Oskaloosa (146).

The top area finisher was PCM’s Abi Teeter, who moved into the state rankings at No. 20 in 2A on Tuesday. She was eighth in the girls’ 5K race with a time of 20 minutes, 39.1 seconds.

Her teammate, Lila Milani, also brought home a medal in 14th. Her time was clocked at 21:38.6.

The top 15 finishers in each varsity race earned medals. Newton’s Audrey Muckler and Alexis Sorensen were the final two runners in the top 10.

Class 3A No. 20 Muckler finished ninth in 20:41.7 and 3A No. 23 Sorensen was 10th in 20:49.1.

The other three scoring runners for Newton were Talia Friedman (22:26.1) in 21st, Alivia Kingery (23:06.9) in 24th and Sarah Malow (24:42.2) in 37th.

Ashlyn Wallace (25:08.5) and Meghan Trout (25:36.1) were the non-scoring runners in 42nd and 45th, respectively.

“(Sorensen) and (Muckler) got after it today and held on well to get the top 10 spots,” Tipton said. (Kingery) had one of the strongest back halves of her race I have seen. She showed a lot of grit today. (Wallace) also pushed past her comfort zone and had an outstanding second part of the race.”

The other three scoring runners after Teeter and Milani for PCM were Ali Hilsabeck (21:40.2) in 16th, Darbey DeRaad (22:08) in 18th and Bailey Wheeler (22:34) in 22nd.

Annie Ford (23:45.2) and Jodi Jungling (24:24.2) were the non-scoring runners in 30th and 35th, respectively.

Mount Pleasant’s Avery Fedler won the girls’ varsity race in 19:07. The next three finishers came from Mid-Prairie.

Class 2A No. 8 Brooklyn Stutzman (19:22.1), 2A No. 2 Rachel Hostetler (19:31.2) and 2A No. 6 Kendal Landstrum (19:38.3) were second, third and fourth, respectively, and 3A No. 30 Channing Becker of Williamsburg finished fifth in 19:59.4.

Mount Pleasant finished well back of Oskaloosa in sixth with 185 points. The rest of the 12-team field included 1A No. 10 Danville (204), Benton Community (233), Mediapolis (237), Montezuma (268), Belle Plaine (301) and Cedar Ridge Christian (309).

HLV/TC, Iowa Valley, South Tama County and Grinnell all were incomplete teams.

Notes: The top 10 finishers in each junior varsity race earned medals. PCM’s Paiten Rumbaugh (24:00.9) and Raegan Vannoy (24:07.3) were second and third, respectively, and Newton’s Laek Sullivan (25:33.9) took eighth. “(Sullivan) left no doubt today,” Tipton said. “She went out with the leaders and didn’t fold as some started to pull away. She stayed tough and held on to get a medal. It was also great to see (Lili Wadsworth) get her first competition of the season under her belt and fight through to the finish.” … Cedar Ridge Christian High School was formerly known as Waterloo Christian. Its named was changed on June 1 as it rebranded to reflect a desire to partner with families across the Cedar Valley and honor the roots of the ministry, according to a YouTube video.