Ranked Bolts face stiff competition at South Hardin, Nevada meets

COLO — Running against mostly Class 2A and 3A schools, the 1A Baxter cross country teams held their own at the Nevada Invitational at Hickory Grove Park on Sept. 26.

Sophomore Logan Berg and junior Ian Thomson led Baxter’s boys’ team with eighth- and 13th-place finishes, respectively. The two top 15 performances helped the Bolts to a ninth-place finish.

The Bolts scored 222 points. Class 3A No. 3 Gilbert won the meet with 33 points. South Hamilton, ranked seventh in 2A, was second with 75 points and 2A No. 5 Roland-Story was further back in third with 106.

The 1A No. 9 Baxter girls were once again without No. 2 runner Lauren Ratliff. Junior Brenna Thomson was the top finisher as she crossed the line 12th with a time of 21 minutes, 11.68 seconds. Freshman Kailee Conradi was next in 25th.

North Polk, ranked fourth in 3A, won the meet with 48 points, 3A No. 10 Gilbert (55) was second and 3A No. 5 Ballard (56) was third. The Bolts were sixth with 177 points and 2A No. 14 West Marshall was seventh with 195.

Bolts compete at

South Hardin Invitational

ELDORA — Brenna Thomson was 1 minute, 48 seconds behind GMG’s Kyla Wilkening in the first cross country meet of the season back on Aug. 24.

More than a month later, Thomson significantly closed the gap on the Class 1A No. 7 Wilkening, but the Wolverine senior still got the best of Thomson at the 45th annual South Hardin Invitational at Pine Lake Golf Course on Sept. 30.

Wilkening finished second overall with a time of 21 minutes, 23 seconds. Thomson, who is ranked 14th in 1A, was only five seconds back. Class 3A No. 11 Aubrie Fisher of Iowa Falls/Alden-AGWSR won the race in 20:36.

The 1A No. 9 Bolts were still without Ratliff. Their short-handed roster, which is also missing injured sophomore Maya Phelps, finished fourth as a team.

Class 3A IFA-AGWSR won the meet with 57 points, and 3A Nevada was second with 69. GMG was third with 80 points, and Baxter was one back in fourth. The Bolts defeated GMG by five points back in Aug. That was with both Ratliff and Phelps in the lineup.

The second and third finishers for the Bolts were sophomore Holly Jessen and senior Ashlee Johnson in 12th and 13th, respectively.

On the boys’ side, Ian Thomson, who is ranked 30th in 1A, finished fourth overall, while Berg was seventh. Thomson finished in 18:12, and Berg in 18:27.

Class 3A No. 5 Malachi Hornbuckle of Nevada won the race in 17:21, 1A No. 24 Caleb Silver of BCLUW was next in 18:00 and South Hardin’s ZaKee Newman finished third in 18:10.

Baxter was seventh in the eight-team field. The Bolts scored 133 points. Class 3A Nevada won the meet with 75 points. South Hardin, which is ranked 11th in 2A, was one point back in second and 2A No. 10 East Marshall was two points back of the host Tigers.

Here are the results of the Baxter cross country team at South Hardin and Nevada:

South Hardin Invitational

GIRLS

3. Brenna Thomson, 21:28; 12. Holly Jessen, 24:09; 13. Ashlee Johnson, 24:11; 27. Kailee Conradi, 25:18; 40. Piper Larson, 27:08; 48. Bryn Schultheis, 29:52.

BOYS

4. Ian Thomson, 18:12; 7. Logan Berg, 18:27; 26. Josh Bruntz, 19:47; 51. Will Hitchler, 23:14; 53. Cade McGowdy, 23:42; 55. Austin Good, 23:57; 56. Brendyn Padget, 24:54.

Nevada Invitational

GIRLS

12. Brenna Thomson, 21:11.68; 25. Kailee Conradi, 22:17.14; 39. Holly Jessen, 23:01.02; 42. Ashlee Johnson, 23:11.59; 65. Piper Larson, 25:41.54.

BOYS

8. Logan Berg, 17:17.87; 13. Ian Thomson, 17:30.90; 54. Josh Bruntz. 19:30.75; 73. McCade Gowdy, 22:37.27; 74. Will Hitchler, 22:46.19; 76. Austin Good, 23:25.96. 77. Brendyn Padget, 23:32.0