Baxter harriers compete against stacked field at Central College

PELLA — Without its top runner, the Baxter boys cross country team finished eighth in a tough field at Central College on Sept. 6 and then slipped down the Class 1A rankings two days later.

The Bolts faced six ranked squads and one out of state program and finished 58 points back of Class 1A No. 12 Lynnville-Sully in the final standings of the Pella High School Dutch Cross Country Invitational on Saturday.

Baxter did though set eight personal records and Elsie Hauser was 4 minutes faster than her previous best time.

Class 1A No. 4 Max Handorf was not available due to a recent injury, but 1A No. 14 Brecken Fisher placed 21st in the boys’ 5K race with a time of 17 minutes, 21.5 seconds.

Maddux Tuhn (18:36.4), Maddox Peters (19:31.4), Dakota Parker (19:45.5) and Lincoln Russell (21:00.4) were the other scoring runners in 52nd, 72nd, 80th and 109th, respectively.

Parker Bonney (22:20.8) and Sam Wilhelm (23:50) were the non-scoring runners in 140th and 161st, respectively.

The Baxter girls did not have enough runners for a team score, but Hauser finished 37th in a career-best 22:04.5.

Class 3A No. 1 Gilbert won the meet title with 31 points, and 3A No. 2 Pella was the runner-up with 43 points. Class 3A No. 6 ADM (110), 2A No. 1 Chariton (128) and Platte County in Missouri (131) completed the top five.

Class 2A No. 6 Pella Christian (162), 1A No. 12 Lynnville-Sully (198), 1A No. 20 Baxter (256), Oskaloosa (258), English Valleys (286), Collins-Maxwell (291), Mount Pleasant (303) and North Mahaska (347) finalized the 13-team field.

Class 3A No. 2 Cainan Dunham of Pella won the boys’ race in 15 minutes, 10.6 seconds. Gilbert’s Logan Bleich was the runner-up in 15:20.5.

Class 3A No. 1 Pella won the girls’ meet championship with 16 points. The Lady Dutch finished 1-2-4-5-7 in the race.

Class 3A No. 11 Gilbert (90), 3A No. 14 ADM (117) Platte County in Missouri (118) and 2A No. 9 Pella Christian (130) were next to complete the top five.

Class 1A No. 7 Lynnville-Sully, 1A No. 11 Collins-Maxwell and 1A No. 13 English Valleys also were part of the 10-team field.

Class 3A No. 1 Marissa Ferebee of Pella won the girls’ 5K race in 18:29.1.

Class 3A No. 2 Elsie Brenneman of Pella was the runner-up in 18:36.5.