Clear Lake harriers continue to test themselves against quality competitions at a pair of meets last week. The Lions traveled to Algona Monday and at Wartburg College Saturday.
Algona Invite
In the girls race, Addison Doughan captured first place and led the 12th ranked (3A) Clear Lake girls to a third place finish in the 14-team field at Algona. Doughan was clocked in 19:06, 32-seconds faster than runner-up Audra Mulholland from Mason City.
Unranked Mason City won the team title and eighth ranked (3A) Spencer was runner-up. Clear Lake and Spencer actually tied for second, but in high school cross country the tie-breaker goes to the sixth runner.
“Spencer had the better sixth runner and took second, but it was a great showing for us to tie with a team ranked four spots ahead of us,” said Coach Tyler Havens. “Rebekah Steinbron won the JV race (which contributed to a win for the JV team) in a time of 22:01. Had Rebekah been in the varsity race with that time we would’ve beat Spencer on the tiebreaker.”
Nine Lions recorded personal bests in the race.
“The best race of the night went to Jadyn Heesch who ran 21:48 to break her previous lifetime best from her freshman year. The now senior has been getting so close to breaking that longtime PR and it was a great moment for the entire team to see her break that barrier,” added Coach Havens.
The bulk of Clear Lake’s scoring came as a strong group. Emily McLaughlin was 17th in 21:34; Anna Feuerbach 18th in 21:40; Jadyn Heesch 20th in 21:48; and Alexis Hauge 24th in 22:01. Also competing for the Lions was Lydia Brattrud, placing 36th in 22:48, and Lauren Englin, 38th in 22:52.
Boys Varsity
The Lions boys team had a similar finish with steady performances.
Jack Crane was the top finisher for the team, placing eighth in 17:36. Leo Tolentino, Andrew Mixdorf and Jaden Wright claimed 25th, 26th and 27th place in 18:23, 18:33 and 18:36. The final scoring placement was provided by Marcus Skidmore, who crossed the finish line in 18:54 for 36th place. Also running for the varsity team was Owen Smith, 43rd in 19:08, and Isaac Smith, 53rd in 19:41.
“For the boys Algona was a good learning opportunity and we left Algona with some data we could use to make our racing more effective,” said Havens.
Junior Varsity
Clear Lake’s Rebekah Steinbron was the winner in the girls junior varsity race in a time of 22:01. The placement propelled the Lion JV team to an overall win in the five-team competition. Clear Lake’s next four runners were all in the top 10: Brooklyn Heesch, fourth, 23:32; Olivia Fausnaugh, sixth, 23:56; Alana Evelsizer, seventh, 24:07; and Allie Olthoff, ninth, 24:18. Also competing was Madison Leisure, 15th, 25:17; Emily Benitz, 20th, 25:50; and Kristina Miller, 50th, 29:20.
The JV boys team finished second in a very competitive 12-team field. Okoboji took home the team title with 58 points, followed by the Lions with 71. Spencer and Mason City were on their heels, each finishing with 78 points.
Leading the way for the Lions was Caleb Jones and Aiden Hippen,
placing third and fourth respectively in 19:19 and 19:43. Daniel Steinbron was just outside the top 10, placing 13th in 20:32. The next pack of Lions included Weston Conway, 21st in 20:52; Cael Stucky, 30th in 21:20; Colby Archer, 34th, 21:38; and Justin Kerr, 42nd in 21:52.
Additional Lion finishes: Aidan Manemann, 61st, 22:29; Andrew Korenberg, 67th, 22:44; Ethan Gansen, 73rd, 22:59; CJ Varner, 79th, 23:13; Cody Hua, 86th, 23:27; Lane Stroup, 97th, 24:20; Ezra Zickefoose, 101st, 24:25; Karsen Evans, 113th, 25:07; Abraham Clark, 125th, 26:43; Jackson Eden, 134th, 28:32.
Waverly
Doughan recorded another strong outing on Saturday at the Waverly Invitational. She was runner-up in a time of 19:10.18. Osage’s Katelyn Johnston took the gold in 18:38.87.
As a team, the Clear Lake girls were fifth behind Holmen, North Scott Eldridge, Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR and Center Point-Urbana.
“We set out to beat Iowa Falls and Center Point Urbana, who are both 3A ranked teams,” explained Coach Havens. “We fell short of that goal, but we had our two-five runners all have massive personal records and Addie beat out the number one runner from Iowa Falls for the first time this season, coming close to a PR in her own right. I think we had a great team performance and the smaller meets just favor us more than the larger meets, as we bring in our four through seven runners really tight.”
Emily McLaughlin was second in for the Lions. She placed 30th in 20:51.01. Right behind was Anna Feuerbach, 33rd in 20:54.74. Alexis Hauge was 47th in a PR of 21:31.96 and Rebekah Steinbron placed 48th in a PR of 21:36.98. Jadyn Heesch and Lauren Englin were 64th and 65th respectively in 22:27.07 and 22:31.24. Lydia Brattrud crossed the finish 76th in a PR of 22:52.19.
Another bright spot for the Lions was the return of sophomore Reese Brownlee to the Lion lineup.
“She’s been battling a hip injury most of the season and to let her knock the rust off with a tempo effort race was great to see,” said Coach Havens.
Brownlee, a State qualifier as a freshman, was 93rd in a time of 23:27.55.
Boys Varsity
Five personal records were recorded by Lion runners in the boys varsity race.
“We made a great adjustment at Wartburg on Saturday and ended up with five personal records. As a team, that was one of our better performances against some stiff competition. We are looking forward to continuing to improve next week at West Delaware.”
Jack Crane paced the Lions, placing 21st in 17:27.24. Andrew Mixdorf was 42nd in a personal record of 18:01.70. Leo Tolentino was clocked in 18:04.43, good for 45th place. Marcus Skidmore used a personal record 18:27.62 to place 71st, as did Owen Smith for 73rd place in 18:28.48. Jaden Wright crossed the finish line in 81st in 18:36.89.
Also running for the Lions was Caleb Jones, 93rd in a personal best 18:52.62; Aiden Hippen, 112th in a PR 19:20.14; and Isaac Smith, 144th in 20:06.24.
The Lions finished eighth in the field of 27 teams.
Team scores at Algona
Girls
Mason City 73, Spencer 80, Clear Lake 80, St. Edmond 112, Okoboji 129, Forest City 174, Humboldt 203, Pocahontas Area 205, Spirit Lake 235, Charles City 237, Estherville Lincoln Central 255, Algona 286, Emmetsburg 293, Fort Dodge 415
Boys
Okoboji 51, Algona 106, Clear Lake 122, St. Edmond 122, Charles City 143, Fort Dodge 156, Forest City 161, Spirit Lake 184, Mason City 197, Spencer 213, Humboldt 318, Eagle Grove 321, Bishop Garrigan 346, Webster City 387
Team scores at Waverly
Girls
Holmen 85, North Scott Eldridge 118, IF-A/AGWSR 124, Center Point-Urbana 145, Clear Lake 148, Bettendorf 181, Austin 185, Rochester Lourdes 194, Assumption Davenport 199, Cedar Rapids Washington 129, Osage 282, Wapsie Valley Fairbank 286, Dike-New Hartford 320, Montezuma 402, Newton 412, Collins-Maxwell 456, BCLUW Conrad 466, Bellevue 494, Columbus Junction 548, South Tama 554, South Hamilton Jewell 562
Boys
Bettendorf 111, Indianola 111, Center Point-Urbana 149, South Tama 150, Austin 213, Bellevue 217, Newton 226, Clear Lake 241, North Scott Eldridge 252, Clayton Ridge Guttenberg 323, Marshalltown 333, Cardar Rapids Washington 378, Columbus Junction 394, Davenport West 398, Rochester Lourdes 419, Valley Lutheran 457, Kasson-Mantorville/Triton 465, BCLUW Conrad 491, Holmen 501, Columbus Catholic 505, Nodaway Valley 517, South Hamilton Jewell 554, Assumption Davenport 578, Collins-Maxwell 588, Dike-New Hartford 652, IFD/AGWSR 658, Montezuma 712
