State-ranked Bolts claim Iowa Star Conference boys’ title

WAVERLY — Matt Richardson saved his best conference meet for last. And the Baxter boys were at their best during the Iowa Star Conference meet on Thursday.

Richardson won his second straight conference championship, Max Handorf and Brecken Fisher also finished in the top 10 and the Bolts claimed their first Iowa Star Conference team title since winning both the girls and boys championships in 2018.

Class 1A No. 14 Baxter dominated the field with 35 points at Wartburg College. The Bolts placed all five scoring runners in the top 20.

The Baxter girls did not have enough runners for a team score, but Makayla True turned a career-best time in the top 10.

Richardson earned his fourth all-conference honor and his second straight conference title after winning the boys’ 5K race in a school-record time of 16 minutes, 19.5 seconds.

Richardson, who is ranked 12th in 1A, was third as a sophomore and ninth as a freshman. Handorf secured his second straight all-conference honor as his fourth-place time was clocked in 17:29.2.

Fisher earned his first all-conference honor in sixth. His career-best time was clocked in 17:48.7.

Maddox Peters improved his placing from last year by 13 positions. He was 11th with a career-best time of 18:17.6. Peters finished 24th last year and 47th as a freshman.

The final scoring runner was Dakota Parker, who came in 19th in 19:06. Logan Rainsbarger (season-best 20:36.4) and Parker Bonney (career-best 22:09.8) were non-scoring runners in 35th and 55th, respectively.

Dunkerton’s Henry Peterson was the race runner-up in 17:01.3.

Collins-Maxwell (63) finished 28 points behind rival Baxter in second. The rest of the seven-team field featured GMG (85), BCLUW (102), Waterloo Christian (111), Valley Lutheran (113) and Meskwaki Settlement School (159).

True led the Baxter girls in seventh. Her time of 21:07.4 was a career best. Zoey Gliem, a three-time all-conference runner, was 13th in a season-best 22:42.6.

Class 1A No. 5 Jayden Peters won the girls’ race in 18:59.4. Collins-Maxwell won the girls’ team title with 32 points.

That was four points better than BCLUW (36) and the rest of the field featured North Tama (65) and Waterloo Christian (86).

Class 1A No. 18 Claire Zweibohmer was the race runner-up in 19:03.9.