Baxter boys edge L-S in battle of ranked squads at West Marshall

STATE CENTER — The Baxter boys cross country team faced off against state-ranked Lynnville-Sully and Ankeny Christian Academy for the second time this season on Tuesday.

The Bolts came into the West Marshall Cross Country Invitational as the third-highest ranked team in the field but finished second at Lincoln Valley Golf Course.

Three Bolts and three Hawks finished in the top 10 of the boys’ 5K race, but Class 1A No. 17 Baxter edged 1A No. 11 Lynnville-Sully after a fourth Bolts runner ended up in the top 15.

Class 1A No. 7 Ankeny Christian won the meet title easily with 38 points, while Baxter (60) edged Lynnville-Sully (68) by eight points for second. Colfax-Mingo also was in the eight-team field and placed sixth.

Baxter’s Matt Richardson and Max Handorf went 1-2 in the boys’ race that also featured 1A No. 11 Alex Davis of ACA.

Richardson, who is ranked 21st in 1A, won the race in 17 minutes, 38.12 seconds. Handorf was the runner-up in 17:40.75 and Davis took third in 17:54.23.

Baxter’s Brecken Fisher (18:46.74) gave the Bolts a third top-10 finisher in ninth.

Lynnville-Sully was led by Colton Alberts (18:12.03) and Homecoming King Hendrick Lowry (18:12.72), who were separated by .69 seconds in fourth and fifth, respectively.

Blake Wilmesmeier (18:23.34) was seventh for the Hawks and Sullivan Wilkins (19:24.16) led Colfax-Mingo in 16th.

The rest of the eight-team field after the top three included Collins-Maxwell (107), West Marshall (123), Colfax-Mingo (159), South Hamilton (168) and Meskwaki Settlement School (201).

Baxter’s final two scoring runners were Maddox Peters (19:17.85) and Dakota Parker (20:51.12) in 15th and 35th, respectively. The Bolts’ two non-scoring varsity runners were Logan Rainsbarger (22:32.59) and Parker Bonney (26:46.62) in 45th and 65th.

The Hawks’ final two scoring runners were Keegan Schnell (19:55.13) in 25th and Ethan Dunsbergen (20:07.98) in 27th. Madden Gunsaulus (21:12.37) and Evan Arkema (21:24.74) were non-scoring runners in 37th and 38th.

After Wilkins in 16th, Harrison Rhone (19:51.22) finished 24th for Colfax-Mingo. Owen Ament (20:59.02) was 36th, Josue Rodriguez (21:42.79) placed 40th and Ryan Moore (26:09.34) took 62nd as the Tigerhawks’ final scoring runners.

Nathan Endersbe (27:20.45) and Jeremiah Wright (29:39.43) were non-scoring runners in 68th and 71st.