Newton boys finish fourth, PCM sixth at Oskaloosa

OSKALOOSA — The Newton boys cross country team wasn’t quite recovered from its busy weekend in St. Louis on Tuesday.

The Cardinals were back at it again and it wasn’t just the hills at Edmundson Golf Course that gave them trouble.

In the end, Newton finished fourth in the 11-team field and PCM took sixth against a pair of ranked squads and host Oskaloosa, which ran well at the top of the standings.

“I felt like several guys had not fully recovered from our big weekend in St Louis, and I could tell it was more than just the hills that were messing with our times,” Newton head boys cross country coach Steve Weeks said. “Things are heading in the right direction, but as a team we need to consistently push ourselves at practice as time is running out on our season to improve our times.”

Four area runners finished in the top 10 of the boys’ 5K race. Javin Doland and Lance Zaabel finished sixth and ninth, respectively, to lead the Cardinals, while PCM’s Kash Fischer and Coby DeRaad were separated by .1 seconds in seventh and eighth.

Class 3A No. 9 Carlisle won the team title with 66 points after placing five in the top 23 spots. The Wildcats had two in the top four and four in the first 20.

Host Oskaloosa scored 87 points in second, while 3A No. 18 Knoxville (96), Newton (108) and Williamsburg (127) completed the top five. PCM (130) headlined the next group followed by Albia (191), Danville (197), Davis County (204), Ottumwa (238) and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (362).

Doland’s sixth-place finish was clocked in 17 minutes, 49 seconds. Zaabel was ninth in 18:00.4.

Cooper Lenz (18:51.3) was next for the Cardinals in 25th, Christian Buchli (19:12.7) finished 30th and Levi Zaabel (19:50.5) was the final counting scorer in 38th.

Drew Lamont (20:02.5) and David Wickett (20:37.8) were non-scoring runners in 42nd and 59th, respectively. It was the first time this season that Wickett earned a spot on the varsity.

Parker Kennedy (21:01.7) and Noah Tremel (21:21.8) have both been on varsity at some point this season. They finished 63rd and 71st on Tuesday.

“The race was a tight one and only a few points separated the top teams,” Weeks said. “Lance and Javin continue to go back and forth for that top spot. Christian Buchli continues to be the definition of consistency in the fourth spot. We still have a gap between our fourth and fifth guy we must shorten up if we want to make noise in the postseason.”

PCM was headlined by Fischer and DeRaad in seventh and eighth, respectively. Fischer was clocked in 17:52.8 and DeRaad hit the finish line in 17:52.9.

Owen Osterhaus (19:04.1) scored a top-30 finish in 29th, Joe Shaver (20:02.9) was 43rd and Rylan Edgington (20:07.3) was the Mustangs’ final counting scorer in 45th.

Charlie Ford (20:11.9) finished in the top seven for the first time this season in 46th and Gabe Nessa (21:04.4) was the other non-scoring runner in 65th.

Three other PCM runners finished in the top 75. Wyatt Vannoy (21:14.5), Cademon Burkett (21:17.4) and Kolby Clark (21:39.8) were 69th, 70th and 75th, respectively.

Class 3A No. 13 Isaac Rankin of Knoxville won the boys’ race in 16:33.2 and 3A No. 16 Kael Streeter of Carlisle was the runner-up in 16:41.1.

Notes: Newton will host two meets this season at Maytag Park. The first one starts with the middle school runners at 4 p.m. on Tuesday.