It was a clean sweep for the Lions on Tuesday, Oct. 10 at the North Central Conference Cross Country meet in Fort Dodge.
Both boys and girls teams took first place, while the girls saw two runners in the top three and three runners in the top 10.
Looking at the top 20, it is easy to see why the Lions took the top spot on the podium with six runners inside of the top 20 runners.
As a team, Clear Lake scored 47, nudging out St. Edmond, Fort Dodge who had 50 and Iowa Falls-Alden taking third with 74 points.
Girls Team
Standings
1 Clear Lake 50
2 St. Edmond, FD 59
3 Iowa Falls-Alden 74
4 Humboldt 109
5 Algona 114
6 H-D-CAL 125
7 Webster City 178
Leading the girls field was Clear Lake Lion standout Addison Doughan, a junior, who finished the course in 19:15.31.
Rebekah Steinbron, also a junior, was third overall with a time of 20:19.86, who was just behind Algona’s Mara Davis who completed the course in 20:17.89.
Clear Lake freshman, Saylor Schmitt, rounded out the fields top 10 with a time of 21:23.96.
The next three runners for the Lions came in together at places 16, 17 and 18.
Reese Brownlee was 16th with a time of 22:10.46, while Alexis Hauge finished the course in 22:10.85 and Lauren Englin took 18th with a time of 22:20.53.
“They kept it rolling the last mile to bring it home inside the top 20,” said coach Tyler Havens. “Those girls combined for a team score of 47 points, which was good enough for a 12-point margin of victory. We checked the box for our first goal of the season this week and will now turn our attention to qualifying for the 3A State Championships next week on our home course.”
The Lions ran this Wednesday (Oct. 18) in Clear Lake.
Lion boys take first
The Clear Lake boys finished first overall with a total of 34 points after five runners finished within the top 10 and two just outside of the top 20, defeating Algona in second place with 53 points and St. Edmond in third with 67 points.
Boys Team Standings
1 Clear Lake 34
2 Algona 53
3 St. Edmond 67
4 Webster City 111
5 Humboldt 125
6 Iowa Falls-Alden 164
7 H-D-CAL 167
St. Edmond, Fort Dodge saw two runners taking first and second, while Webster City took third.
Clear Lake would then take fourth through sixth with Gavin Roske in fourth with a time of 17:51.35, while Caleb Jones was just behind him in fifth with a time of 17:54.75 and Owen Smith cleared the course in 18:08.09 good for that sixth spot.
Isaac Smith and Aiden Hippen rounded out the top 10 taking ninth and 10th.
Smith finished the course in 18:11.62 and Hippen finished in a time of 18:20.00.
Luke Moore was just outside the top 20 with a 21st place finish in a time of 19:08.53.
Aiden Burtness finished his race in a time of 19:17.72, good for 24th.
“The varsity boys team exceeded all expectations coming into this season and even coming into this week,” said Clear Lake head coach Tyler Havens. “Algona seemed to be the heavy favorite coming into the season as they were defending NCC Champions and only lost their number one runner from that team, we lost five of our top seven after finishing runner-up by just three points last year.”
It’s been a great season for Clear Lake fall sports and coach Havens was inspired by football head coach Aaron Stensland and a call he made to go for two-points and win the contest.
Owen Smith had been plagued by injury throughout this season and his return was uncertain, but never giving up and never stopping his training, Smith had the attention of the coaches.
“After watching coach Stensland and the football staff make a gutsy call to go for two and beat Algona a couple of weeks ago, we decided to roll the dice and take a chance as well,” said Havens. “We believed in Owen [Smith] and what he is capable of, so we put him in. All of our guys got out smart and conservative the first mile, as Algona goes out fast and aggressive.”
The move paid off for the Lions with Smith finishing sixth overall.
“The boys truly raced as a team,” said Havens. “They believed in our race plan and executed the race plan flawlessly. Owen was incredible finishing as our number three in a demonstration of unwavering sacrifice and commitment to the team.”
