Given the level of competition in the Top of Iowa-West, the Eagle cross country team probably made as much use as they could of their home course to take third place at this year’s conference run. Forest City won with a low of 40 points, followed by Garner-Hayfield/Ventura at 76 points and the Eagles tied with Bishop Garrigan at 86 points each. The rest where: North Union 112, Lake Mills 176, Belmond-Klemme 176, West Hancock 235 and North Iowa 240.
“The meet went better than expected for us as a team,” stated head coach Ben Demuth. “I knew that we would probably not be able to win it with the strength of Forest City, and a few of our runners missing a few nights of practice due to illness or other. However, I knew that we should be able to place top four as we were running on our home course for the second time in a week. This team really surprised me with their overall efforts and desire to do well. We had a few great nights of practice leading up to the meet, probably our best few nights this year, and part of that was that we finally had everyone together at this meet.”
Drake Weland paced the purple & gold with a fine fifth place time of 18:22.59. He was followed in the combined V/JV race by: Noah Thul in 19:14.94 for 18th; Derricklee Harms in 19:32.17 for 19th; Cael Wesselink in 19:38.62 for 20th; Jensen Cooper in 19:51.59 for 24th; Justin Agtun-Gomez in 19:59.83 for 26th; Alex Frakes in 21:17.93 for 48th; Adam Herrington in 21:42.98 for 52nd; Jaden Armstead in 21:55.03 for 56th; Alex Gaspar in 23:59.73 for 72nd; Jose Lizama in 26:07.35 for 78th; Felix Gaspar in 26:12.19 for 79th and Brandon Crail in 28:51.86 for 81st at the finish.
“We had seven of our thirteen runners have their season best time for the night, and only a week after they ran on the same exact course,” said the coach. “They ran well at the Dick Bell, but their times were not great. At this meet, they were so much more improved and came home in third place as a team after the tiebreaker with Garrigan was settled by our sixth-place runner finishing better on time than theirs. Drake ran a smart race, staying in the front pack all night and slowly worked his way up from tenth to fifth for a great finish. Noah, Derricklee and Jensen were all seconds within each other throughout the course and Justin and Cael just a few short steps behind. Our pack ran well and looked the best we have all season. Alex Frakes, Adam and Jaden rounded out our top nine and were all within distance of each other for a strong finish. These guys have really bonded and worked well together and have really separated themselves from the rest of the team in terms of being varsity level runners. The rest of the guys all had good nights as well, with Felix impressing me with his final run of the season. He was almost a full minute faster at the conference meet than the home meet last week. He is a great kid who shows up and plain straight up gets after it. He is not our fastest guy but works hard and is such a fun person to be around.”
Middle school girls & boys were put together in one race. Finishes for the RBMS Eagle girls were like this: Savannah Gilbert in 14:52.76 for fifth; Peyton Terwilliger in 15:43.23 for 10th; Monique Garcia in 18:58.15 for 27th; Renee Withers in 22:34.46 for 32nd at the line. For the Eagle boys, finishes were as follows: Dylan Beck in 13:16.58 for second; Zabdi Castro in 13:34.45 for sixth; Evan Cooper in 14:27.75 for 13th; Patrick Heaton in 14:34.14 for 14th; Zach Hogrefe in 14:49.64 for 16th; Cohen Mason in 16:39.66 for 26th; Felix Reyes in 17:02.93 for 29th; Felix Gonzalez in 18:36.95 for 37th; Drew Robinson in 19:19.94 for 38th and Eli Friedl in 26:33.88 for 42nd at the line. The boys also took the team title with 30 points, finishing ahead of Garner-Hayfield/Ventura with 49, Forest City with 64 and Lake Mills with 80.
“The middle school runners just went out and dominated as ten of the fourteen had season best times, and the boys ended up as conference champs!” said Demuth. “Then the varsity girls ran well throughout the course of their race, and so I really hoped our guys would show up and perform.
