State-ranked Hawks place ninth in loaded field at Williamsburg

WILLIAMSBURG — The state-ranked Lynnville-Sully cross country teams faced their toughest competition of the season on Tuesday.

The top 10 finishing teams in the girls’ 5K race are in the state rankings, while seven of the top 10 boys’ squads also are ranked, and the Hawks placed ninth on both sides at the Williamsburg Invitational.

“We wanted to come to this meet and use that competition to help us improve and finish September strong,” Lynnville-Sully head cross country coach Darin Arkema said. “The temperatures still being in the low to mid 80s for this point in the season certainly made for a tougher night of racing and kept times a little slower than maybe what they could or should have been. Especially since this course is flat and generally pretty fast.”

The L-S boys scored 241 points in ninth, but Class 1A No. 26 Colton Alberts was 15th individually. Blake Wilmesmeier also finished 25th, while Emma Parkinson and Mandeesa Vos led the L-S girls in 38th and 40th, respectively.

Class 3A No. 3 Mount Vernon-Lisbon won the boys’ meet title with 40 points. Class 3A No. 2 Pella (55), 3A No. 9 Bondurant-Farrar (132), Vinton-Shellsburg (156) and 2A No. 6 Pella Christian (193) completed the top five.

The rest of the top 10 included 2A No. 14 Tipton (200), 3A No. 17 Carlisle (205), Williasmburg (236), 1A No. 9 Lynnville-Sully (241) and Solon (266).

Four other South Iowa Cedar League schools were in the field as English Valleys (434), HLV/TC (606), North Mahaska (609) and Colfax-Mingo (622) were 15th, 20th, 22nd and 23rd, respectively.

Alberts’ 5K time in 15th was clocked in 17 minutes, 20.22 seconds. Wilmesmeier was 25th in 17:48.38. Alberts was the team’s lone medalist.

Ethan Dunsbergen (18:53.73), was 62nd, Madden Gunsaulus (18:56.1) placed 65th and Sam Terlouw (19:12.68) were the other scoring runners.

Evan Arkema (20:27.87) and Andrew Arkema (20:51.94) were the non-scoring runners in 102nd and 116th, respectively.

“A good job early to be up in the pack but stay controlled and disciplined so we are stronger in the middle to end of the race,” Coach Arkema said. “I don’t believe these guys are as tired as what their two mile splits are showing in comparison to what they ran for the first mile. It really is about finding a way to keep mentally engaged and win the battle over what signals the body is sending to the brain versus what the brain needs to tell the body what to do.”

Class 3A No. 7 Dawson Scheil of Mount Vernon-Lisbon won the boys’ 5K race in 16:04.6. Class 3A No. 18 Barrett Jesina of South Tama County was the runner-up in 16:22.96.

Mount Vernon-Lisbon put its top three finishers in the first seven positions, while Pella went 8-9-10-11.

Parkinson led the L-S girls in 38th. Her time was clocked in 21:28.53 and Vos finished in 40th with a time of 21:40.41.

The other scoring runners were Breah Lowry (22:10.69) in 48th, Peyton Sharp (22:13.73) in 51st and Isabelle Vos (23:47.53) in 87th. Morgan Hay (31:54.75) was a non-scoring runner in 145th.

“The girls did a better job tonight getting off the starting line and being up in the race early on, knowing that there would be a lot of runners and in places the course can be a bit narrow or tight,” Coach Arkema said. “After those first few hundred meters then they’ve got to be controlled and find that rhythm and pace they’ve worked on. Staying focused and mentally committed to pushing the body through mile two is still a work in progress, and something I believe we will see as we get into our October races.”

Class 2A No. 2 McKenna Montgomery of Albia won the girls’ 5K race in 18:07.7. Class 3A No. 5 Evelyn Moeller of Mount Vernon-Lisbon was the runner-up in 18:16.01.

Pella won the meet title with 46 points. The Class 3A No. 1 Lady Dutch went 4-7-8-14-15 to win easily.

Class 3A No. 3 Mount Vernon-Lisbon (80), 3A No. 7 Solon (123), 3A No. 16 Williamsburg (143) and 2A No. 9 Pella Christian (229) completed the top five.

Class 2A No. 7 Albia (246), 2A No. 17 Tipton (251), 4A No. 15 Clinton (254), 1A No. 6 Lynnville-Sully (257) and 1A No. 11 English Valleys (275) finalized the top 10.

North Mahaska (333) was 14th, Colfax-Mingo (492) finished 19th and Belle Plaine (625) was 21st.