The Eagle cross country team took part in a meet last Monday at River Road golf course in Algona. A strong Humboldt team took first and second individually to win the title with 60 points. They were followed in the top five by Webster City with 105, Mason City Public with 111, Clear Lake with 130 and St. Edmond with 150 points. The Eagles finished 17th out of the 19 complete teams there. Quinton Orr continued his winning ways by posting a 15:43 for first place.
“We had to run short handed on the varsity for this meet, as we had three regulars who could not compete,” stated head coach Ben Demuth. “I asked the rest of the varsity guys if they wanted to run as individuals or run with some of the JV guys from our top eight or so, and they chose to run as a team. Alexander Frakes and Josue Castro stepped up and ran varsity for us, but were not aware of it until we got off the bus. To top off the weekend we had all sorts of uncertainty on who can and could not run. It was chaotic. However, I feel that our guys buy into our program and what we stand for and that it was next man up. They answered with their best runs.”
Jensen Cooper was 71st with a 19:46 to lead the purple & gold varsity, followed closely by Justin Agtun-Gomez in 19:58 for 76th at the finish. The rest of the finishers were Derricklee Harms in 20:15 for 84th, Cael Wesselink in 21:10 for 98th, Alex Frakes in 22:01 for 109th and Josue Castro-Aroche in 22:34 for 114th.
The JV did not have a complete team, and those finishers were Jaden Armstead in 22:31 for 65th, Alex Gaspar in 23:15 for 78th, Jose Lizama in 27:50 for 129th and Cael Schafer in 28:22 for 134th.
“I know our placing as a team is low, and that our times were not going to be spectacular, but this team made me super proud to be their coach and I could not be more thankful for the type of men they are and how they will deal with adversity in life,” said Demuth. “We had four season best times out of our varsity runners in cool, wet and windy conditions. Two of them were Alex and Josue who I told to just go off and have the best run they could possibly muster and they did that. Both of their scores mattered as Alex was our fifth finisher and Josue’s finish broke a tie with another team, so it was used well in official scoring.”
He then talked about the rest of the varsity at this meet. “The other four had great races and I was really pleased with their leadership as a whole for the entire team,” he said. “Jensen broke the 20-minute mark which he has been chasing for awhile now, and Derricklee continues to drop serious time and amaze me at his abilities and recovery. “
The coach then turned his attention to the JV performers. “Jaden was our leader the whole night and ran one of the better races of his short career,” said Demuth. “He asks what he needs to do and then just goes out and does it and you could not ask more of a kid. All the guys love having him on the team and what he brings to the team. I was so pleased with his efforts at this race, and I know he will continue to grow as a runner and as a young man. The other guys ran well and competed against a large field of JV runners and I thought did the best that they could given the circumstances. Alex Gaspar was close to a season best and continues to work on his race abilities and it is starting to work in his favor. Cael and Jose have improved a lot the last few weeks and I am glad for their efforts in a demanding race.”
