After the first meet of the season was cancelled due to heat last week, the Decorah cross country teams had near picture-perfect weather Tuesday in Oelwein.
The Viking boys kicked off the season with a fourth-place finish, tallying 117 points with an average time of 18:31 and spread of 1:56.4. Center Point-Urbana ran away with the boys’ team title with 69 points. In the girls’ 5K race, Denver edged Sumner-Fredericksburg for the team title with 83 points, just ahead of the Cougar’s 86. Decorah finished the night with 163 points, good for seventh place. The Vikes had an average time of 22:50 with a spread of 2:39.
Both JV squads came away victorious and with the individual champions. The JV boys scored 23 points over Denver’s 51 with Keaton Nalean-Carlson breaking the tape in 19:04.36. Lily Sandhorst led the field to the finish line as the JV champ in 23:27.48, as part of Decorah’s team score of 19, way above Denver’s 62.
Leading the boys
“This was a good start, with some excellent performances and some in need of improvement. It will be important to keep improving daily,” said boys’ coach Brad Johansen.
Crossing the finish line in 17:38.65, Grant Zilka earned seventh for the Vikes. Sophomore Garrett See toured the course in 17:56.11, good for 13th. In 18:18.54, Henry Weis was 20th, with Oliver Bollinger taking 36th place in 19:03.07. Completing the team score in 47th overall was Landyn Hook in 19:35.99. Thomas Hammel also competing in the varsity event, finishing 55th in 19:53.87.
Varsity girls
Posting a time of 20:43.97, sophomore Amelia Roe led the Vikes to the line with a sixth-place finish. Brynn Storhoff was the next to complete the course in 41st with a time of 23:06.21, followed by Deborah Hougen in 43rd and Ana Simon in 44th. Hougen toured the course in 23:15.68, while Simon finished in 23:18.08. Kamryn Steines and Amelia Wadsworth also finished back-to-back in 50th and 51st places respectively. Steines posted a time of 23:32.89 with Wadsworth stopping the clock at 23:36.90.
“We have been running well in practice and things are beginning to show in our performances. We need to continue to challenge each other to push out of our comfort zone,” noted girls’ coach Cristy Nimrod.
All-American
The Vikes are off until Saturday, Sept. 9, when teams converge on Luther College campus for the All-American Race beginning a 9 a.m.
Boys’ varsity team results
1. Center Point-Urbana 69; 2. Waterloo West 95; 3. Denver 102; 4. Decorah 117; 5. Oelwein 131; 6. Vinton-Shellsburg 153; 7. West Delaware 165; 8. Beckman Catholic 220; 9. Crestwood 245; 10. Sumner-Fred 263; 11. Union 271; 12. Starmont-West Central 332; 13. Columbus Catholic 344; 14. Wapsie Valley 345; 15. North Fayette Valley 361
Girls’ varsity team results
1. Denver 83; 2. Sumner-Fred 86; 3. Beckman Catholic 106; 4. Center Point-Urbana 124; 5. North Linn 126; 6. Union 130; 7. Decorah 163; 8. Crestwood 184; 9. West Delaware 254; 10. North Fayette Valley 259; 11. Wapsie Valley 299; 12. Vinton-Shellsburg 301; 13. Oelwein 313; 14. Ed-Co 328
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