Newton, L-S duos lead boys cross country teams against loaded field at Wartburg

WAVERLY — Cooper Christy and Lance Zaabel continue to trend in the right direction as the season approaches the finish line.

The Cardinal duo finished in the top 60 of a cross country meet that featured 15 ranked programs, and the Newton boys finished 28th at the Dan Huston/Steve Johnson Invitational hosted by Wartburg College on Saturday.

“The boys ran pretty well despite the heat,” Newton head boys cross country coach Steve Weeks said. “Many of the guys said they felt like they were always stuck behind runners and had to spend most of their time trying to pass on the straight parts of the course.”

Class 1A No. 5 Lynnville-Sully was one of the ranked teams in the field. The Hawks finished 21st in the 35-team field.

Colton Alberts, who is ranked 20th in 1A, was the top area finisher in 45th place. Class 1A No. 30 Blake Wilmesmeier was two spots behind Zaabel in 62nd. The top 80 finishers earned medals.

“The boys field consisted of mostly larger schools and highly ranked competition across all classes,” Lynnville-Sully head cross country coach Darin Arkema said. “Most of our guys kept their start under control and didn’t get carried away, but we still need to work on that balance of getting out away from the start, but being disciplined so that as the race goes on we don’t gradually get slower to the end.”

Class 4A No. 1 Indianola cruised to the team title with 70 points. Class 3A No. 2 Pella was the runner-up with 119 points followed by 4A No. 13 Cedar Rapids Kennedy (135), 4A No. 19 Iowa City Liberty (165) and 4A No. 20 Davenport Central (170).

Ankeny (212), Linn-Mar (225), Urbandale (251), Sioux City North (275) and 3A No. 6 Clear Creek-Amana (303) finalized the top 10.

The next 10 in front of Lynnville-Sully were 3A No. 9 Decorah (311), 3A No. 3 Mount Vernon-Lisbon (311), Marshalltown (332), 3A No. 12 Storm Lake (365), 3A No. 13 Bondurant-Farrar (382), 3A No. 17 Davenport Assumption (435), 3A No. 19 Nevada (509), Williamsburg (564) and two out of state teams.

Lynnville-Sully scored 600 points in 21st. Alberts posted a time of 17 minutes, 5 seconds in 45th place. Wilmesmeier was 62nd in 17:19.5 and the other scoring runners were Ethan Dunsbergen (18:54.3) in 180th, Madden Gunsaulus (19:00.3) in 186th and Sam Terlouw (19:07.7) in 194th.

Keegan Schnell (19:57) led the non-scoring runners in 235th. Evan Arkema (20:22.3) was 258th, Will Conover (21:08.4) placed 271st, Jordan Dunsbergen (21:35.2) finished 279th, Dalton Winegar (21:51.5) took 282nd and Hayden Lewis (25:33.6) was 303rd.

The Hawks were 82 points better than 1A No. 4 Earlham (682) and 103 in front of 1A No. 8 Columbus Community (703).

“There were 100 more competitors in the boys’ race than the girls and you could tell as soon as they left the starting line,” Coach Arkema said. “Giving them the opportunity to get on a course against that level of competition and prove what they are capable of was what we were looking for, and the guys came through. I know they were pumped, but while cooling down with them they were very level about it and know there’s more work to be done.”

Christy led Newton in 51st. He posted a time of 17:08.2 and Lance Zaabel’s career-best 17:17.5 put him in 60th.

Levi Zaabel (19:31.5) was 218th, David Wickett (19:54.1) placed 232nd and Noah Tremel (20:14.9) was 253rd as the final scoring runner.

Drew Lamont (20:17.2) led the non-scoring runners in 254th. Abel Aldama (20:22) was 257th, Chase Lundberg (21:04) placed 268th and Hudson Swarts (22:51.5) finished 288th.

“It’s always good to run with such tough competition as it gives us an idea of where we are as a team and who we can run with,” Weeks said. “I’m always an optimist and always see the potential in our boys. The JV has only two more meets left in the season so this is our final week to really push ourselves and see what we can accomplish.”

Class 3A No. 3 Canaan Dunham of Pella won the boys’ race in 14:54.4. Class 4A No. 2 Keegan Decker of Iowa City Liberty was the runner-up in 15:04.