Baxter boys finish third at Woodward-Granger Invitational

GRANGER — Class 1A No. 4 Max Handorf’s injury during the boys’ 5K race at Jester Park on Thursday hindered the Baxter boys cross country team’s chance at another team title, but the 1A No. 15 Bolts still finished only 13 points out of first place.

The Bolts grabbed two individual top-10 finishes and claimed third in the eight-team field at the Woodward-Granger Invitational.

Brecken Fisher finished second again in the boys’ race. His runner-up time was clocked in 19 minutes, 17.9 seconds.

Maddux Tuhn (20:44) had his highest finish as a prep in sixth, Dakota Parker (22:22.9) was 18th and Maddox Peters (22:27) placed 20th. The final scoring runner was Lincoln Russell (24:14.1) in 34th.

Parker Bonney (25:41.7), Sam Wilhelm (27:54.1), Levi Gregory (29:05.4) and Austin England (32:22.7) were non-scoring runners in 40th, 54th, 57th and 69th, respectively.

Handorf suffered a hip injury while making a pass for the lead on a downhill portion of the course.

He did not finish the race to avoid further injury. Baxter head cross country coach Ian Thomson considers it a minor injury but further evaluation is expected in the next few days.

Woodward-Granger and Saydel both scored 66 points at the top of the standings. The host Hawks won the meet because they had a better sixth runner.

W-G placed its five scoring runners in the top 16, while Saydel put its first three in the top 10.

The Bolts scored 79 points in third and the rest of the top five included Perry (105) and West Marshall (126). Collins-Maxwell (149), Des Moines North (161) and Clarke (163) completed the field and CAM had an incomplete roster.

North’s Marvin MejicanoBarahona won the boys’ race in 18:28.1.

Baxter’s girls did not have enough runners for a team score. Elsie Hauser took 11th in the girls’ 5K race in 26:04.3.

Collins-Maxwell’s Jayden Peters won the race in 22:21.2 and Woodward-Granger’s Eva Fleshner was the runner-up in 22:40.9.

Class 2A No. 5 West Marshall won the girls’ meet championship with 32 points. Class 2A No. 7 Addie Thompson (23:11.8) led the Trojans in third. Peters is ranked ninth in 1A.

Class 1A No. 12 Collins-Maxwell finished second with 44 points and Woodward-Granger scored 50 points in third.