Three area boys finish top five at Colfax-Mingo

COLFAX — Baxter’s Matt Richardson won his second individual title this season and Max Handorf posted another time under 18 minutes, but Lynnville-Sully’s depth through its five scoring runners was enough to secure a second-place finish at the Colfax-Mingo Tigerhawk Cross Country Invitational on Thursday.

The Bolts had two of the top three finishers, but the Hawks were 11 points better because all five scoring runners finished in the top 32 and four were 20th or better at Kelly Fields.

Grand View Christian won the boys’ team title with 73 points, while Lynnville-Sully was next with 84 and Baxter finished third with 95.

“Finishing as the top SICL team at the meet should give them an early idea about what is possible in a month at the conference meet if they keep working to improve,” Lynnville-Sully head cross country coach Darin Arkema said.

The rest of the top five included Collins-Maxwell (102) and Clarke (112).

North Mahaska (117), Colfax-Mingo (171), Montezuma (176), Woodward Academy (224), Woodward-Granger (241), Saydel (266) and the Newton JV (334) completed the 12-team field.

Three area finishers were in the top four. Richardson won the boys’ race in 17 minutes, 35.65 seconds. Handorf was third in 17:54.99 and Lynnville-Sully’s Hendrick Lowry took fourth in 17:59.79.

The runner-up was North Mahaska’s Brayden Veiseth, who finished the race in 17:46.72.

After Lowry for Lynnville-Sully were Colton Alberts (19:35.86), Keegan Schnell (19:43.84) and Ethan Dunsbergen (19:46.99) in 16th, 19th and 20th, respectively.

“Hendrick was able to position himself early with a small group of top runners and not have to worry about getting around traffic,” Arkema said. “He was within striking distance of the runner-up spot for much of the race.

“Ethan, Colton and Keegan again were right with each other but pushing the pace to make sure they weren’t comfortable and each trying to catch or stay in front of another.”

The final scoring runner was Blake Wilmesmeier (20:15.67) in 32nd. Evan Arkema (21:36.6) and Jordan Dunsbergen (21:59.02) were non-scoring runners in 50th and 57th, respectively.

The remaining three scoring runners for Baxter after Richardson and Handorf were Logan Rainsbarger (20:08.4) in 28th, Logan Jones (20:21.94) in 34th and Maddox Peters (20:26.37) in 35th.

Dakota Parker (22:51.78) and Hudson Bethards (28:37.57) were non-scoring runners in 68th and 101st, respectively.

Colfax-Mingo was led by Xavier Woods, who finished 23rd in 19:59.41. Owen Ament was 29th in 20:10.29 and Harrison Rhone (20:35.39) finished 38th.

Josue Rodriguez (21:06.47) and John McGill (21:37.95) were the other scoring runners in 44th and 52nd, respectively.

Tony Buenrostro (21:53.21) and Austin Lane (23:03.52) placed 56th and 72nd, respectively, as non-scoring runners.

Newton’s JV had a full lineup, too. Bryen Hernandez led the way in 60th with a time of 22:31.86.

Nate Lamb (22:56.06) was 69th, Jacob Sweeney (24:30.5) finished 88th and Gentry Swarts (25:12.28) came in 93rd. The final scoring runner was Keary Sanger (25:13.33) in 94th.

Talon Currie (26:08.33) and Thomas Tidball (27:22.51) were non-scoring runners in 95th and 96th, respectively.

“I’m very proud of my JV runners,” Newton head boys cross country coach Steve Weeks said. “So many had personal records and many of them are brand new to this sport. Nate Lamb is making huge progress and Bryen Hernandez really found his racing speed tonight.

“It makes me so excited to see this next wave of runners push and develop as athletes.”