By Becky Walz,
The Decorah boys’ cross country team showcased a fine performance Tuesday in the opening race of the season.
The Viking men placed second at the annual Oelwein Invite, scoring 88 points. Oelwein took the title with 49.
The Decorah girls placed eighth with 171 points with a young team.
The runners-up
Running on the 5K course, Decorah posted an average time of 18:20, with a spread of 26.9 seconds.
Individual champion of the night was Charlie Sieck of Starmont/West Central. He broke the tape in 16:57.27.
Junior Henry Weis was the first to cross the finish line for the Vikings in 18:02.97, good for 10th place overall. Finishing the course in 18:18.62 in 17th place was Cade Olson, with Grant Zilka on his heels in 18th. Zilka posted a time of 18:19.48. Adding a 20th place finish overall was Davis Coppola in 18:24.97, while Jake Magner closed out the scoring in 23rd with a time of 18:29.85. Also, racing was Thomas Hammel (32nd, 18:54.40) and D’mitry Lesser (66th, 20:19.43).
“This was an excellent first performance for a very young, inexperienced team. We showed great improvement from last year for the returning runners as well,” said boys’ coach Brad Johansen.
Varsity girls
The Decorah girls had an average time of 23:24 with a spread of 40.8 seconds in their first outing of the season.
Leading the way for the Vikes with a time of 22:59.15 was junior Brynn Storhoff. Sophomore Elsa Johnson cruised around the course in 23:16.24, good for 35th overall. In 37th place, Amelia Wadsworth crossed the finish line in 23:26.26. Finishing back-to-back in 40th and 41st place was Kamryn Steines and Lily Sandhorst to complete Decorah’s scoring. Steines had a time of 23:35.71, while Sandhorst stopped the clock at 23:39.88. Other harriers on the course were Annalise Skrade (46th, 23:44.90) and Grace Blikre (49th, 23:54.09).
Coming up
The Decorah harriers will return to action Tuesday, Sept. 6, on the Wartburg College campus in a meet hosted by Waverly-Shell Rock at 4:45 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 10, the Vikes will be at the Luther All-American Race in Decorah which begins at 9 a.m.
Girls’ varsity team results
1. Denver 77; 2. Beckman Catholic 92; 3. Center Point-Urbana 109; 4. Union 134; 5. North Linn 143; 6. Sumner-Fred 153; 7. Crestwood 170; 8. Decorah 171; 9. North Fayette Valley 222; 10. Wapsie Valley 224; 11. West Delaware 254; 12. Oelwein 291; 13. Vinton-Shellsburg 370; 14. Dunkerton 375
Boys’ varsity team results
1. Oelwein 49; 2. Decorah 88; 3. Center Point-Urbana 99; 4. Denver 111; 5. Vinton-Shellsburg 112; 6. Waterloo West 113; 7. North Linn 205; 8. West Delaware 225; 9. Starmont/West Central 271; 10. Crestwood 299; 11. North Fayette Valley 302; 12. Columbus Catholic 318; 13. Beckman Catholic 324; 14. Sumner-Fred 358; 15. Union 407; 16. Dunkerton 440; 17. Waterloo East 501
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