Short-handed Mustangs finish first, second in annual home meet

MONROE — The PCM girls cross country team competed without one its top runners during its home meet on Monday.

That didn’t prevent the Mustangs from claiming another team title as the hosts scored 43 points to win the PCM Cross Country Invitational at Gateway Recreation Golf Course.

The Mustangs were No. 7 at the time of the meet but had no trouble defeating No. 13 Pella Christian without Abi Teeter, who missed the meet with an illness.

But after a convincing 23-point advantage in the meet, PCM fell four spots in the rankings one day later, while Pella Christian stayed where it was before the loss.

Class 2A No. 15 Pella Christian won the boys team title convincingly. PCM was without varsity regular Gabe Nessa, who missed the team’s home meet due to an injury.

Class 2A No. 11 PCM scored 43 points to win the girls team title. The Mustangs placed three in the top 10 and all five scoring runners finished in the first 17 positions.

Class 2A No. 13 Pella Christian scored 66 points in second, while the rest of the top five featured Davis County (93), Urbandale (103) and Des Moines Hoover (157).

Pleasantville (159), Woodward-Granger (164), Perry (166) and Des Moines East (248) completed the nine-team field.

Lila Milani, Darbey DeRaad and Annie Ford all finished in the top 10 to earn medals for the Mustangs.

Milani was sixth in 21 minutes, 33.6 seconds and DeRaad came in seventh in 21:44.8. Ford (22:16.2) wound up ninth and the final two scoring runners were Bailey Wheeler (22:32.7) in 14th and Ali Hilsabeck (23:02.8) in 17th.

Raegan Vannoy (23:41.8) and Paiten Rumbaugh (23:53.1) were non-scoring runners in 25th and 27th, respectively.

The girls’ varsity 5K winner was 2A No. 11 Eva Fleshner of Woodward-Granger. She crossed the finish line in 20:25.5.

Class 2A No. 24 Bailey Vos of Pella Christian was the runner-up in 20:45.7.

Pella Christian’s Sawyer Meinders, who fell out of the 2A rankings this week, won the boys’ race in 17:39.7. Davis County’s Aaron Cook (17:47.4) was the runner-up.

Kash Fischer, Coby DeRaad and Owen Osterhaus all won top-10 medals for the PCM boys.

Fischer was fourth in 18:19.6, Coby DeRaad placed fifth in 18:23.3 and Osterhaus finished sixth in 18:31.

The final two scoring runners were Rylan Edgington (20:04.4) and Joe Shaver (20:14.4) in 22nd and 25th, respectively.

Wyatt Vannoy (20:38.3) and Kolby Clark (20:42.5) were non-scoring runners in 30th and 33rd, respectively.

The state-ranked Eagles won the boys’ team title with 34 points. They placed all seven varsity runners in the top 13 spots and their final five runners finished in succession at 9-10-11-12-13.

PCM was next with 62 and the rest of the top five featured Davis County (101), Perry (118) and Woodward-Granger (138).

Saydel (143), Des Moines Hoover (196), Des Moines East (200) and Pleasantville (201) completed the nine-team lineup.