L-S girls extend runner-up streak at SICL meet

SEARSBORO — The streak continues for the Lynnville-Sully girls’ cross country team.

For the seventh straight year, the Hawks finished as the runner-up in the team standings at the South Iowa Cedar League meet on Tuesday.

Led by three top-six finishes, the girls scored 62 points in second, while the boys also placed a pair of runners in the top six and were third in the final standings of that division at Big Springs Shooting Complex.

“What a great run of consistency and success to be up near the top each year,” Lynnville-Sully head cross country coach Darin Arkema said. “English Valleys has a good squad, and our girls should be proud of earning a team runner-up finish, while at the same time disappointed they weren’t champions. It was not for lack of effort.”

The Hawks (62) edged Montezuma (68) for second in the girls’ team race. English Valleys put five runners in the top 15 and scored 31 points at the top.

Colfax-Mingo (79) and Iowa Valley (107) completed the five-team field.

Olivia Norrish led the Hawks in fourth with a time of 20 minutes, 57.38 seconds. Peyton Sharp (21:06.68) was next in fifth and Emma Parkinson (21:35.82) was sixth.

The other two scoring runners were Brooke Conover (26:06.12) in 27th and Helle Augustinussen (29:23.46) in 41st.

“It was awesome to have three earn individual all-conference honors with Olivia, Peyton and Emma going 4-5-6. Brooke ran basically a new PR, and Helle raced up tonight.”

Colfax-Mingo had two all-conference runners as Addie Schroeder finished 10th in 22:22.85 and Shae Wilkins placed 11th in 23:08.74.

The other three scoring runners were Rachael Uecker (25:46.03) in 25th, Lilyan Hadsall (26:21.76) in 28th and Mallory Sipma (26:22.21) in 29th.

Claire Hunsberger (26:26.58) and Shy Steck (27:00.33) were non-scoring runners in 30th and 34th, respectively.

Devan Chadwick (28:45.6), Bianca Lane (29:10.10) and Evalyn Anderson (31:54.24) also competed and finished 39th, 40th and 42nd, respectively.

North Mahaska’s Emmerson Jedlicka of North Mahaska won the girls’ 5K race in 20:14.52. Addison Achenbach of English Valleys was the runner-up in 20:48.55.

HLV won the boys’ team title with 44 points, while North Mahaska (54) edged Lynnville-Sully (58) for the runner-up spot. Montezuma (91), Belle Plaine (97) and Colfax-Mingo (143) completed the six-team field.

Class 1A No. 25 Gage Heyne of English Valleys won the boys’ race in 16:31.57 and North Mahaska’s Brayden Veiseth was the runner-up in 17:19.25.

Hendrick Lowry and Colton Alberts both earned all-conference honors for the Hawks. Lowry was fourth in 17:39.49 and Alberts placed sixth in 18:18.03.

“Hendrick put himself where he needed to race early on, and came home with a top-five finish,” Arkema said. “Colton maybe had our race of the night, finishing in the top 10 for all-conference honors as well but definitely his best time/race of the season.”

Blake Wilmesmeier (19:30.21), Ethan Dunsbergen (19:54.85) and Evan Arkema (20:40.86) were the final scoring runners in 15th, 17th and 26th, respectively.

Jordan Dunsbergen (21:03.61) and Will Conover (27:53.61) were non-scoring runners in 30th and 43rd, respectively.

L-S continued to compete without varsity regular Keegan Schnell.

“They knew it would take a team effort for everyone to step up and fill in with his absence,” Coach Arkema said. “I’m so proud of the way they responded and each tried to be just a little bit better tonight. HLV has a tough pack that ran close together, which made them a tough group to beat.

“North Mahaska just barely edged the guys out, but like the girls, not because we lacked the effort. Credit to them for good races, as well.”

Colfax-Mingo was led by Owen Ament in 25th. His time was clocked in 20:39.1 and Austin Lane was 27th in 20:50.86.

John McGill (21:13.01), Sullivan Wilkins (22:16.69) and Asher Knutson (29:23.45) were the final scoring runners in 32nd, 36th and 45th, respectively.