L-S boys repeat as SICL cross country champions, girls finish second

SEARSBORO — A 2-3 finish powered the Lynnville-Sully boys cross country team to its second straight South Iowa Cedar League championship on Tuesday.

And the Class 1A No. 9 Hawks left no doubt after placing its five scoring runners in the top 11 and scoring 33 points at the top of the standings.

Lynnville-Sully was so dominant that its sixth through 10 runners combined for a score that would have placed them third overall, according to Hawk head cross country coach Darin Arkema.

“Our guys needed to get out at the start and be in control of their race, and if they did that they were going to show top to bottom how deep our team is,” Arkema said. “I’ll take five in the first 11. I’m proud of the way they handled the expectations and performed how they are capable.”

The Hawks came up short of their quest to go back-to-back on the girls’ side. No. 9 English Valleys edged No. 11 Lynnville-Sully by eight points at the top of those standings, and Colfax-Mingo was fifth after Ashlynn Hosbond led all area runners in second place in the girls’ 5K race at the Big Springs Shooting Complex.

“A very successful night, yet one of the most enjoyable parts of the night was just seeing our kids be great teammates with each other,” Arkema said. “The medals, trophies and accolades will fade and tarnish over time, but how they’ve treated each other and the memories they are making during the time spent together will be what they will remember and what makes each of them better for the future.”

Lynnville-Sully was 59 points in front second place English Valleys (92) on the boys’ side. Sigourney (114) edged BGM (115) by a single point for third and Montezuma (151) finished narrowly in front of North Mahaska (155) and Belle Plaine (157) for fifth.

The rest of the 10-team field included Colfax-Mingo (169), HLV/TC (174) and Iowa Valley (232).

Lynnville-Sully’s Colton Alberts was the runner-up in the boys’ race. The 19th-ranked runner in 1A posted a time of 16 minutes, 47.89 seconds.

Blake Wilmesmeier (17:00.52) finished third and Ethan Dunsbergen (18:21.43) led a group of four runners who finished in the back end of the top 12.

Dunsbergen was eighth, but Sam Terlouw (18:21.91) and Madden Gunsaulus (18:21.96) were not far behind in ninth and 11th, respectively, as the final scoring runners.

Evan Arkema (18:48.01), Keegan Schnell (19:23), Dalton Winegar (19:26.41) and Andrew Arkema (19:39.09) led the non-scoring runners in 14th, 21st, 23rd and 27th, respectively.

The top five finishers earn first team all-conference, the next five are second team and the 11th and 12th place finishers get honorable mention recognition.

Colfax-Mingo’s Sullivan Wilkins grabbed one of the first team all-conference positions as he led the Tigerhawks in fourth. His time was clocked in 17:13.35.

The rest of C-M’s scoring runners were Mario Rodriguez (19:05.84) in 19th, Willie Fitzgerald (22:05.67) in 53rd, Benjamin Faidley (22:13.79) in 55th and Ryan Moore (23:53.17) in 61st.

Asher Knutson (28:16.06) and Milo Knutson (28:20.08) were non-scoring runners in 69th and 70th, respectively. Rodriguez, Faidley and Milo Knutson all posted career-best times.

Sigourney’s Troy Klett edged Alberts for the SICL individual championship. The 1A No. 20 ranked runner posted a winning time of 16:46.43.

English Valleys scored 50 points at the top of the girls’ standings. Lynnville-Sully (58) was next followed by North Mahaska (67), Sigourney (84) and Colfax-Mingo (115).

The rest of the eight-team field included BGM (157), Belle Plaine (169) and HLV/TC (204). Montezuma and Iowa Valley had incomplete teams.

“It’s pretty special at a 1A school to have both boys and girls teams competing at a high level,” Coach Arkema said. “What tonight really came down to (on the girls’ side) was the Hawks had really strong races, great effort and some of the best of the season, but English Valleys was better on this day. They collectively had better races than the previous two matchups. We were hopeful to be conference champions two years in a row, absolutely. But you walk away more frustrated if the team doesn’t race well, has a bad night, etc. And that wasn’t the case at all.

“It doesn’t take away the disappointment of not winning, but you can’t be frustrated with the effort and the performance by the Hawks. You tip your cap to English Valleys.”

North Mahaska’s Emmerson Jedlicka edged Hosbond for the individual SICL championship. Jedlicka won the girls’ race in 19:53.26, and 1A No. 29 Hosbond posted a career-best time of 19:55.15 in second.

Emma Parkinson led the Hawks in fourth with a time of 20:37.46. Mandeesa Vos (20:54.14) and Sharp (21:56.86) were second team and honorable mention all-conference, respectively, in seventh and 11th and the final two scoring runners were Isabelle Vos (22:23.39) in 15th and Breah Lowry (23:22.19) in 21st.

Katelyn Nikkel (24:26.08) and Morgan Hay (28:49.67) were non-scoring runners in 32nd and 56th, respectively.

Colfax-Mingo’s other scoring runners were Ivy Anderson (22:40.13) in 17th, Lilyan Hadsall (24:14.58) in 31st, Mallory Sipma (25:24.3) in 39th and Jessica Gibson (25:28.22) in 40th.

Sahara Buenrostro (26:20.23) was a non-scoring runner in 46th. Anderson and Hadsall both posted career-best times.