Baxter boys finish third against tough field at Dike-New Hartford

DIKE — It has been pretty difficult for the Baxter boys’ cross country team to move up the Class 1A rankings this season.

The Bolts have only lost to one 1A school when at full strength this fall but were ranked 19th coming into the Dike-New Hartford Invitational on Tuesday.

Baxter scored 135 points in third place, which was significantly better than 1A No. 17 Mason City Newman.

Class 3A No. 12 Grinnell won the meet with 46 points and 2A No. 3 Denver was the runner-up with 68 points. The Bolts were 37 points clear of Newman Catholic (172) and Charles City (189) completed the top five of the 19-team field at Fox Ridge Golf Course.

The Bolts were led by 1A No. 12 Matt Richardson, who placed fifth in the boys’ 5K race with a time of 16 minutes, 24.8 seconds.

Max Handorf (16:51.1) was next for Baxter in 12th and the other scoring runners were Brecken Fisher (17:54.2) in 30th, Maddox Peters (18:14) in 37th and Dakota Parker (18:54.9) in 63rd.

Logan Rainsbarger (21:06.5) and Parker Bonney (23:01.6) were non-scoring runners in 120th and 139th, respectively.

Class 2A No. 2 Emerson Vokes of Grundy Center won the boys’ 5K race in 15:12.7. Class 2A No. 6 Jesse Gomez of Denver was the runner-up in 15:39.3 and 3A No. 12 Cadel Conner of Grinnell took third in 16:10.4.

The Baxter girls did not have enough runners for a team score. Makayla True (22:35) led the way in 56th and Zoey Gliem (234:26.7) was 82nd.

Class 2A No. 5 Amilia Condon of Union Community won the girls’ race in 18:24. Class 3A No. 14 Kyliee Zylstra of Grinnell was the runner-up in 18:41.8.

Class 2A No. 11 Denver won the girls’ team title with 102 points. The field also featured 2A No. 7 Sumner-Fredericksburg (117) and 2A No. 9 Hudson (122).