L-S boys edge Newton harriers at Grinnell Invitational

GRINNELL — Class 3A No. 8 Grinnell won its home meet with ease on Tuesday. But the next five teams in the boys’ standings were separated by only 14 points, and the Lynnville-Sully boys cross country team edged Newton by two points inside Ahrens Park.

The host Tigers showed why they are ranked in the top 10 of 3A. And while Newton’s top two runners both finished in the top 10 of the boys’ 5K race, L-S had better depth with its five scoring runners coming in the top 36.

“Tonight’s race was a fantastic display of cross country,” Newton head boys cross country coach Steve Weeks said. “I saw so many cheering on their own teammates when they realized so many were peaking their personal records. It was beautiful weather and times are trending in the right direction early this season.”

Class 3A No. 8 Grinnell won the boys’ meet with 33 points. The Tigers put its five scoring runners in first 15 positions, which is what it took to earn a medal.

Williamsburg (97), Benton Community (100), Knoxville (108) and 1A No. 12 Lynnville-Sully (109) completed the top five. Newton (111) led the next group and the rest of the nine-team field included Albia (183), South Tama County (186) and BGM (236).

Cooper Christy headlined the Cardinals and led the area runners in fifth. His time was clocked in a career-best 16 minutes, 53.5 seconds.

Lance Zaabel (17:26.9) was next for Newton in 10th with a career-best time. Levi Zaabel’s career-best 18:57.2 and Abel Aldama’s career-best 19:19.8 put them in 26th and 29th, respectively, and the final scoring runner was David Wickett (19:48.4) in 41st.

Noah Tremel (20:46) and Ben Magana (21:21) were non-scoring runners in 53rd and 54th, respectively.

Varsity runner Drew Lamont missed the meet due to an illness, and Wickett also is recovering from an illness he had last week.

“The varsity had pockets of improvement and also a few are battling health issues as they try to recover from illness,” Weeks said. “But after some hills workouts this week the guys all said they were happy to run a flat course and pleased with the results of that workout.

“I really thought (Aldama) had a breakout night and is starting to realize what he’s capable of.”

Colton Alberts and Blake Wilmesmeier earned medals for the state-ranked Hawks. Alberts, who is ranked 20th in 1A, was eighth in 17:24.6 and Wilmesmeier (17:39.5) finished 12th.

Madden Gunsaulus posted a career-best time of 18:44.7 in 22nd, and the other two scoring runners were Ethan Dunsbergen (19:22.4) in 31st and Sam Terlouw (19:30.5) in 36th.

Evan Arkema (19:55.5) and Keegan Schnell (20:14.8) were non-scoring runners in 43rd and 45th, respectively.

“(Gunsaulus) had a terrific race, running under 19 minutes for just the second time of his career and setting a new PR,” L-S head cross country coach Darin Arkema said.

Class 3A No. 9 Isaac Rankin won the boys’ race in 16:12.1. The runner-up was 3A No. 25 Cadel Conner of Grinnell. He finished the race in 16:23.2.

Grinnell’s top four runners finished in the first seven positions. Class 3A No. 18 Barrett Jesina of South Tama County took fourth in 16:40.

Notes: The meet included a girls and boys junior high race, two varsity races and a pair of junior varsity races. The top 10 finishers in the JV race earned medals. Lynnville-Sully’s Andrew Arkema was 11th in 20:08, which is the second-best time of his career. … Newton’s Chase Lundberg (21:45.4) edged Hudson Swarts (21:45.7) in the JV race. The Cardinal duo placed 20th and 21st, respectively. “The JV had an outstanding night with many guys having huge drops in time,” Weeks said. “It was just a fantastic night with so much improvement.”