Short-handed Bolts crowned Iowa Star Conference champions

WAVERLY — The Baxter boys cross country team will be without top runner and No. 4 ranked Max Handorf for the rest of the season due to an injury.

Maddox Peters also did not run at the Iowa Star Conference meet on Thursday.

But that didn’t stop the Bolts from claiming the team title at Wartburg College.

Backed by a 2-3 finish from Brecken Fisher and Maddux Tuhn, the Class 1A No. 15 Bolts scored 48 points at the top of the standings. They were 12 points in front of Collins-Maxwell, which had the race winner in Malcolm Toornstra.

“The results really don’t show how close it was,” Baxter head cross country coach Ian Thomson said. “With as many teams which don’t score due to numbers in the field as there were, we were worried about that possibly coming back to bite us. If some of those runners between (Parker Bonney) and Collins-Maxwell’s fourth and fifth runners were non-scorers then the scores would have been very close.”

The Bolts are expected to get Peters back for this week’s state qualifying meet, but not having Handorf at the top of the lineup will certainly make things more difficult in the postseason,

It did not prevent Baxter from winning another conference title though. Fisher’s runner-up finish was clocked in 17 minutes, 15.6 seconds. Tuhn took third in 17:30.4.

Dakota Parker (19:03.5), Lincoln Russell (20:17) and Parker Bonney (20:25.6) were the other scoring runners in 13th, 21st and 22nd, respectively.

Sam Wilhelm (22:30.4), Levi Gregory (24:16.5) and Austin England (28:3.6) were non-scoring runners in 41st, 55th and 67th, respectively.

“With the loss of (Handorf) and (Peters) for this race, I spent the week making sure everyone knew we could still win,” Thomson said. “I preached that when it comes to districts and conference that it’s all about the margins for us. I told them I believe we can still win conference and qualify for state. The margins have just shrunk.”

Toornstra’s winning time in the boys’ 5K race was 17:03.5. He’s ranked 22nd in 1A and edged 27th-ranked Fisher by 12 seconds.

Collins-Maxwell scored 60 points in second and the rest of the eight-team field included Riceville (96), Valley Lutheran (108), Cedar Ridge Christian (116), Don Bosco (126), Colo-NESCO (130) and Janesville (200).

“This win was a total team win,” Thomson said. “If even one runner ran a little worse we wouldn’t have won. (Fisher) and (Tuhn) ran great races. They were competing the whole way. However, (Parker), (Russell) and (Bonney) stepped up. The team knew we were short staffed and they knew that the odds were against us but they still showed up. Not many teams can be missing two top-four runners on their team and still win. That just goes to show each athlete’s hard work and how deep of a team we are.”

Thomson said Handorf is out for the rest of the season due to a broken bone in his foot and Elise Hauser, the only girl on the squad, also will not return this season due to an injury.

Baxter heads to South Hamilton for state qualifying

The Bolt boys will compete for a state berth at the Class 1A state qualifying meet hosted by South Hamilton at 4 p.m. on Thursday in Jewell.

The Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa High School Athletic Girls Union released the assignments for all four classes on Wednesday.

The No. 15 Bolts will be joined at South Hamilton by No. 3 Ankeny Christian Academy and No. 17 North Butler as well as Alta-Aurelia, Ar-We-Va, BCLUW, Colfax-Mingo, Colo-NESCO, East Marshall, GMG, Madrid, Manson Northwest Webster, Melcher-Dallas, Meskwaki Settlement School, Panorama, Southeast Warren, Fort Dodge St. Edmond, Woodward Academy and host South Hamilton.

Fisher is one of five ranked runners in the race. ACA’s Alex Davis is the highest ranked athlete at No. 5.

The top 10 individuals and top two teams at each 1A state qualifying meet advance to the state meet at the beginning of November.