The Johnston girls made it clear that their #1 ranking stands after a late entry into the Bobcat XC Invitational. Finishing with a score of 53 points lead by individual champion junior Brooke McKee, the Dragons rounded out their top 5 scorers with freshman Aleah Tenpas in 10th at 20:01, 12th for sophomore Bella Heikes in 20:03, junior Clara Toot in 13th at 20:09, and freshman Faith Nead for 14th in 20:12. Their team split was 48 seconds with McKee running 19:24 and the other four splitting just 11 seconds. McKee sat in the top 5 for most of the race, taking over the lead with about 1K to go, followed by the rest of the top 5 pack running through 4K. The Dragons also took the win in the JV race with an amazing score of just 22 points; however, they did not race anyone in the 9/10 race.
Does this team have the potential to dethrone their own record-setting score at State from 2016?
Outside of the Johnston girls, Waukee's Peyton Kelderman had an excellent race finishing just one second behind McKee. Kelderman helped lead her team to a second place finish with 93 points. With both teams having no seniors in their top 5 finishers from this meet, there is a great amount of potential for growth and success in future years. Another team that shone bright through the mud at Marshalltown was the Southeast Polk Rams. Finishing just 6 points behind Waukee, the Rams surprised many with their incredible performance for 3rd place over the Dowling Maroons with a point difference of 42. With 13 of the top 15 ranked teams present at the meet, the Rams will have a good shot at making the podium this year if they continue on this road of improvement.
In the boys race, Tim Sindt cruised to victory in 15:39, an entire 33 seconds ahead of the next finisher, Iowa City West's Kolby Greiner. With an exciting battle at line, Greiner nabbed the second spot from Dowling's Will Ode in the final steps, both finishing in 16:20. Sindt looked strong through all of the mud and finished the race with a big smile on his face, helping his team to a top 5 finish.
The Dowling Catholic Maroons impressed with an incredible team score of 45 points. After Ode in 3rd, Sam Hall was 4th in 16:20, Cole Schroeder was 7th in 16:30, Zach Fry was 10th in 16:41, and their score was rounded out with Mike Gipple at 21st in 16:58. Their team had a split of 46 seconds and an average of 16:32. Their top 3 individuals pack ran through two miles, putting up a strong force against challengers. With Dowling dominating the team score, the fight for second was strong between the Waukee boys team and Pleasant Valley, finishing with 102 and 109 points each. With Dubuque Hempstead in 4th at 145 points, Pleasant Valley and Waukee certainly have a great shot at podium finishes at State this year.
Check out the wild mud pits on the course at Marshalltown in our Varsity Girls and Varsity Boys race videos!
