By Becky Walz,
William Fullhart leads a pack of runners including teammates Landyn Hook (left) and Garrett See (over his shoulder) around a turn in Cedar Falls. (Photo courtesy of Decorah Boys Cross Country Facebook Page)
With each team fielding two squads, the Decorah girls’ and boys’ cross country teams competed well Thursday night at the 39th Annual Cedar Falls Rich Engle Classic.
Tuesday, the Vikes were at the Waukon Invite, results from that meet will be published in the Oct. 3 Decorah Leader.
Varsity girls
The Decorah girls, ranked 15th in Class 3A, finished fifth overall with 143 points. Class 4A No. 4 Dubuque Senior finished first with 28 points. The Vikes had an average time 22:26.6 and posted a spread of 1:55.5.
“It was a challenging night due to weather and the course itself, but we learned things about ourselves as we continue to grow. The girls continue to work hard and help each other to improve,” said Decorah girls’ cross country coach Cristy Nimrod.
Taking first overall was Class 4A No. 2 Charlee Gall of Cedar Falls. She had a time of 19:07.5.
Decorah was led by Olivia Volkmann. She just missed the top 10 as she clocked in at 21:05.1, to finish 11th overall (10th in the team standings). Brinlee Courtney was the second Viking to cross the finish line. The sophomore toured the course in 22:31.8, good for 29th (28th team). Raelyn Newhouse took 36th (34th team) in 22:46.0 with Deborah Hougen right behind her in 22:49.1, in 37th (35th). In 38th (36th team), Amelia Wadsworth rounded out the Decorah scoring. The junior had a time of 23:00.6.
Also running varsity were Riley Christopher (39th, 23:07.2), Natalie Stevens (49th, 23:51.1), Claire Storhoff (53rd, 24:05.6), Nora Lesmeister (59th, 24:12.6), Leah Garcia-Prats (60th, 24:17.7), Natalie Goodner (62nd, 24:24.4) and Lulu Bellrichard (73rd, 25:09.7).
Leading the boys in CF
The Class 3A No. 5 Viking boys posted an average time of 17:34.0 and spread of 41 seconds in their sixth-place finish with 149 points. The host, Class 4A No. 2 Cedar Falls, claimed the title with 68 points.
The individual winner was Western Dubuque’s Class 3A No. 1 Quentin Nauman. He had a time of 15:29.6.
The Vikes were led by Class 3A No. 29 Grant Zilka. The junior toured the course in 17:20.3, good for 22nd. D’mitry Lesser wasn’t too far behind, taking 25th in 17:28.3. Davis Coppola came across the finish line in 17:29.0 to take 27th, followed closely by Landyn Hook in 29th. Hook had a time of 17:30.9. Completing the scoring for Decorah in 47th (46th team) was William Fullhart with a time of 18:01.2.
Others competing in the varsity race were Clarence Nimrod (51st, 18:03.5), Mitchell Stemper (61st, 18:10.2), Garrett See (63rd, 18:13.8), Oak Pasche (82nd, 18:39.0), Thomas Hammel (87th, 18:43.4) and Spencer Christensen (97th, 18:55.0).
“There was great job and effort by those who were prepared for the hot weather while those who were not prepared had a valuable learning experience,” said Viking boys’ cross country coach Brad Johansen.
JV action
The Decorah junior varsity girls tallied 109 points to earn fourth place with an average time of 25:26.5 and spread of 1:53.0. The top seven for the girls included Elsa Johnson (17th, 24:34.2), Olivia Rissman (18th, 24:48.6), Vivian Searcy (20th, 25:13.7), Grace Blikre (26th, 26:08.4), Ellie Adams (28th, 26:27.3), Natalie Holthaus (29th, 26:35.8) and Lillian Dahlen (33rd, 26:43.9).
Finishing sixth as a squad, the Viking JV boys tallied 164 points with an average time of 19:42.9 and a spread of 46.2 seconds. Those competing in the top seven were Max Grimstad (18th, 19:17.6), Bennett Coppola (22nd, 19:28.1), Kyan Oftedahl (35th, 19:44.9), Oliver Bollinger (42nd, 20:00.1), Logan Nalean-Carlson (47th, 20:03.7), Kyle Pattison (52nd, 20:12.0) and Liam Hung (58th, 20:15.4).
Girls’ varsity team results
1. Dubuque Senior 28; 2. Cedar Falls 45; 3. Dubuque Hempstead 67; 4. Mason City 123; 5. Decorah 143; 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 106; 7. Ames 200; 8. Grundy Center 216; 9. Western Dubuque 238; 10. Cedar Rapids Washington 253; 11. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 313; 12. Waterloo Christian 383
Boys’ varsity team results
1. Cedar Falls 68; 2. Bettendorf 94; 3. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 102; 4. Dubuque Senior 130; 5. Linn-Mar 144; 6. Decorah 149; 7. Iowa City West 177; 8. Dubuque Hempstead 212; 9. Urbandale 245; 10. Southeast Polk 265; 11. Waterloo West 287; 12. Western Dubuque 302; 13. Grundy Center 426; 14. Cedar Rapids Washington 454; 15. Iowa City Liberty 455; 16. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 467; 17. Waterloo Christian 530; 18. Waterloo East 542; 19. Valley Lutheran 543
Girls’ JV team results
1. Dubuque Senior 25; 2 Cedar Falls 44; 3. Dubuque Hempstead 94; 4. Decorah 109; 5. Iowa City Liberty 137; 6. Western Dubuque 193; 7. Ames 203; 8. Cedar Rapids Washington 224; 9. Grundy Center 251; 10. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 312; 11. Waterloo West 344; 12. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 358
Boys’ JV team results
1. Iowa City West 33; 2. Cedar Falls 36; 3. Linn-Mar 100; 4. Urbandale 131; 5. Dubuque Senior 163; 6. Decorah 164; 7. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 175; 8. Ankeny 212; 9. Dubuque Hempstead 265; 10. Bettendorf 279; 11. Southeast Polk 293; 12. Western Dubuque 357; 13. Mason City 434; 14. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 457; 15. Iowa City Liberty 458; 16. Waterloo West 512; 17. Cedar Rapids Washington 547
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