Baxter boys finish third at Clarke

OSCEOLA — The Baxter boys cross country team is getting closer to being 100 percent healthy.

The Bolts should return to the rankings when Max Handorf gets back into shape and is fully recovered from a hip injury. The team raced against the top team in Class 2A on Tuesday and finished third at the Clarke Cross Country Invitational.

Baxter scored 55 points in third. The Bolts were edged by Class 3A Creston (52) for the runner-up spot, but 2A No. 1 Chariton grabbed the first four individual positions and cruised to the meet championship with 25 points.

“With Max (Handorf) mostly healthy, our top three runners are just as good as any other front three in 1A,” Baxter head cross country coach Ian Thomson said. “We’re looking to keep (Peters) and (Parker) progressing because we know that to compete at the top of 1A we need especially our 1-5 to be solid coming down the stretch.”

The Bolts were well in front of 2A No. 17 Van Meter, which finished fourth with 139 points. Interstate 35 (135), Clarke (160), Martensdale-St. Marys (164), Southwest Valley (194) and Southeast Warren (220) completed the nine-team field.

Chariton’s Lucas Anderson won the boys’ 5K race in 17 minutes, 5.10 seconds and 2A No. 9 Cy Stuart of Chariton was the runner-up in 17:06.87. The Chargers’ top four runners came in under 17:45.

Creston was the runner-up after going 5-7-12-13-19 with its top five, and Baxter was 6-8-9-16-20 in third.

“Being able to run against the No. 1 team in 2A was a great experience and with our team still not being 100 percent, finishing only a few points behind 3A Creston was great,” Thomson said. “I’m looking forward to our next two meets being on fast courses against great competition and seeing what our runners are able to do there.”

Class 1A No. 23 Brecken Fisher led the Bolts in sixth. He finished in 17:43.61.

Max Handorf returned from injury and placed eighth in 18:22.99 and Maddux Tuhn took ninth in 18:39.28. The other two scoring runners were Maddox Peters (20:01.83) in 16th and Dakota Parker (20:46.59) in 20th.

Lincoln Russell (22:16.26), Parker Bonney (23:04.63), Levi Gregory (24:54.86) and Sam Wilhelm (25:28.8) were non-scoring runners in 34th, 39th, 58th and 63rd, respectively.

“Out of caution due to how hilly the course was and the current condition of (Handorf’s) hip, we emphasized using this meet as a workout to test the hip and shake off the rust,” Thomson said. “Since there were so many hills and his hip isn’t 100 percent yet, we didn’t want to risk pushing too much. I think everyone ran well and competed hard.”

Baxter’s Elsie Hauser did not compete in the girls’ 5K race as she continues to work her way back from an injury.