Smock wins fourth SICL title, both L-S squads finish second

SIGOURNEY — Greenlee Smock won her fourth individual championship to lead Lynnville-Sully’s cross country teams at the South Iowa Cedar League meet on Tuesday.

The Hawks placed five runners in the top five in all and both squads finished second in the final team standings at Sigourney Golf & Country Club.

It was the sixth straight season the L-S girls came in second at the conference meet.

Smock’s fourth SICL title came with relative ease. The Class 1A No. 19 Smock finished the girls’ 5K race in 21 minutes, 42.88 seconds. Her teammate, Olivia Norrish, was the runner-up in 23:05.18.

“I don’t know the history of the SICL on how many four-time conference champions there have been but just a tremendous accomplishment for her,” L-S cross country coach Darin Arkema said about Smock. “It was awesome to see Olivia’s determination at the end of the race to earn the runner-up finish.”

The Hawks went 2-3-5 in the boys’ race with James Gruver, Zach Morningstar and Hendrick Lowry, respectively.

Colfax-Mingo also competed with full teams. The top finishers were McKenna Pleima in the girls’ race and Harrison Rhone in the boys’ 5K. Both Tigerhawks earned all-conference honors in ninth place.

The top 10 finishers in each race earned all-conference recognition and the next two were honorable mention.

Montezuma edged Lynnville-Sully’s girls in the team race. The Bravettes placed six runners in the top 17 and scored 35 points in first. The Hawks went 1-2-12 and scored 40 points in second. The rest of the four-team field included Colfax-Mingo (70) and Iowa Valley (83).

“I knew late in the race that one of Montezuma’s top girls had dropped out of the race, which opened the door for us a bit more,” Arkema said. “Ultimately, their tight pack of fourth, fifth and sixth runners proved to be the difference. So for the sixth year in a row our girls team was runner-up. But hard-fought, great efforts by them to give all they had.”

In the boys’ race, North Mahaska won the title with 36 points. The Warhawks placed their top six runners in the first 16 positions. The Hawks scored 53 points in second and the rest of the four-team field included Montezuma (59) and Colfax-Mingo (77).

After Smock and Norrish for the L-S girls was Kendra Fikse, who earned honorable mention recognition in 12th with a time of 25:35.49.

Corrina Rozendaal (27:31.52), Laura Fikse (27:46.47) and Brooke Conover (28:42.53) completed the Hawks’ scoring runners in 20th, 21st and 27th, respectively.

Pleima’s ninth-place finish in the girls’ race was clocked in 25:03.01. Shae Wilkins was right behind her elder teammate in 10th with a time of 25:07.64.

The rest of the scoring runners for the C-M girls included Bianca Lane (28:34.15) in 26th, Lilyan Hadsall (29:18.32) in 29th and Devan Chadwick (29:36.37) in 30th.

Mallory Sipma (36:21.43) was a non-scoring runner in 36th.

English Valleys’ Gage Heyne won a competitive boys’ race, pulling away late and finishing in 18:31.23.

Gruver’s runner-up finish came in 18:45.88. Morningstar was third in 18:59.39 and Lowry hit the finish line in fifth in 19:07.48.

“Our top three guys knew they had to race at the front and be in contention for individual champion or at least top-five finishes,” Arkema said. “That’s exactly what they did.”

The other two scoring runners for the Hawk boys were Ethan Dunsbergen (23:02.73) in 27th and Evan Fikse (25:11.69) in 42nd. Will Conover (33:09.69) was a non-scoring runner in 48th.

Rhone’s ninth-place finish for the Tigerhawks came in 20:18.76. Josue Rodriguez (21:46.37) was next in 19th, Xavier Woods (21:51.34) finished 20th and Gage Byal (22:18.73) placed 24th.

Mason Edwards (23:05.17) was the final scoring runner in 29th. The non-scoring runners for the Tigerhawks were John McGill (23:16.77) in 31st, Tony Buenrostro (23:49.50) in 35th, Owen Ament (23:54.69) in 36th, Austin Lane (24:11.97) in 39th, Carter Gibson (24:17.23) in 40th and Seth Brant (26:20.31) in 44th.