Newton boys finish third, L-S fourth at Grinnell Invitational

GRINNELL — Newton and Lynnville-Sully finished nine points apart in the boys varsity 5K race at the Grinnell Invitational on Tuesday.

But the head coaches from each school had different perspectives after the race was over.

Newton head boys cross country coach Steve Weeks likes that his squad’s time are improving but more progress is still needed.

Lynnville-Sully head cross country Darin Arkema took his boys team to the course for the first time as a ranked group and loved the way they performed around Ahrens Recreation Complex.

In the end, the Cardinals finished third with 71 points and 1A No. 18 Lynnville-Sully (80) was fourth in the seven-team field. Only Class 3A No. 10 Grinnell and 3A No. 18 Knoxville were in front of the two area squads.

“The Cardinals ran a pretty solid race, but we still finished behind two ranked teams,” Weeks said. “Times on the whole are improving but still more progress is needed.”

Three runners from each area team finished in the top 15. Cooper Lenz led the Cardinals in fifth, while Lynnville-Sully’s Colton Alberts was sixth.

Grinnell won the boys’ team title with 39 points, while Knoxville (67) was the runner-up. Williamsburg (96), Benton Community (132) and Montezuma (209) completed the seven-team field. BGM and South Tama County had incomplete teams.

“The boys found themselves with fewer competitors than the last two races but still with some strong bigger school competition,” Arkema said. “Grinnell, Knoxville and Newton are all decent 3A teams so for them to finish fourth and not be a great distance back from third or second is a credit to the quality of races they ran, and how good they have been to start this season.”

Lenz improved his time from the first meet of the season by 1 minute, 20 seconds. His fifth-place finish was clocked in 17 minutes, 48.7 seconds.

Javin Doland also posted a season-best time of 18:07.7 in 10th, while Lance Zaabel finished 13th in 18:11.

The final two scoring runners for Newton were Christian Buchli (18:47.7) and Levi Zaabel (19:40.9) in 19th and 30th, respectively. Both runners completed their 5Ks in a season-best time.

Drew Lamont (20:09.9) finished 35th and Parker Kennedy (21:43) was 47th as non-scoring runners. It was the varsity debut for Kennedy.

“We’ve had times fluctuate from last week,” Weeks said. “Almost everyone finished in a different spot with the exception of a consistent Christian Buchli.”

The newly-ranked Hawks were led by Alberts in sixth. His season-best time was clocked in 17:50.8.

Hendrick Lowry (18:10.2) and Blake Wilmesmeier (18:35.7) were 12th and 14th, respectively. Ethan Dunsbergen (career-best 19:17.9) finished 23rd and the final scoring runner was Sam Terlouw (19:48.6) in 31st.

The two non-counting runners were Keegan Schnell (20:07.2) and Evan Arkema (21:20.1).

“Coming off a weekend race for the high school runners, I wasn’t sure how our team would respond to a meet early in the week, and our third meet in eight days,” Coach Arkema said. “I wasn’t going to be surprised if there was a little decline in our effort or energy levels, but that wasn’t the case at all.

“Both teams were focused and excited to face completely new group of schools and be on a course we didn’t race at last year. This is a flat course with minimal turns or corners so there’s great opportunity to really get into a rhythm and be at race pace.”

Grinnell won the meet after placing its top four runners in the first eight positions. Knoxville and Newton put their first four in the top 20.

Class 3A No. 13 Isaac Rankin of Knoxville won the boys’ race in 16:33.4. Class 3A No. 28 Cadel Conner was the runner-up in 17:06.1.

Newton’s junior varsity was led by Noah Tremel, who finished 10th in 20:56.5.

“We have a busy week this week with JV having another meet at Colfax-Mingo and varsity traveling to St Louis, Missouri, this weekend,” Weeks said. “Noah Tremel got himself back on to varsity as he led the JV group.

“David Wickett (21:47.4) dropped close to a minute off his time. Keary Sanger (22:59) got a personal record and freshman Emerson Cook (24:58.5) continues to improve and also posted a personal record. The guys who are really buying into their workouts and pushing themselves are getting results that show it.”