By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
OTTUMWA – Two things worked in the favor for the Pekin runners on Saturday night.
The cooler weather of the night air meant the harshness of a cross country course wouldn’t feel as bad. Secondly, the Ottumwa golf and country club course is a relatively flat course, increasing the speeds.
With those two factors mixing the Pekin cross country team had a strong showing at the second annual lighted links cross country race in Iowa. It is the only high school cross country race in Iowa to be held under the lights.
For Pekin senior Chloe Glosser she was battling a bit of an illness, but that didn’t slow her down.
“I tried not to think about how I felt prior to the race, I just wanted to come out here and run,” Glosser said after the race. “I hope I’m not getting sick, but I guess if I am then now is the time because we don’t have any big races coming up.”
The lighted links cross country race would still be a strong one for Glosser, and the rest of the Pekin cross country teams.
Glosser, slowed by her illness would finish second in the race with a time of 18:50.4. Not her fastest time, but still an overall good showing for the senior.
“Overall, my race tonight was just mid,” Glosser said. “This is a really cool meet, and a really fast course because there aren’t that many hills. I’m just disappointed I couldn’t unlock what I could potentially do here. I still ran the best time I could do today, and that’s all that matters.”
The Pekin girls finished seventh overall in the team standings. Abby Guise finished 26th overall. Maddy Petrehn would finish 43rd in the race. Harper Guise would finish 44th in the race. In 45th was Callie Deustche. Hallie Petrick would finish in 56th and Zoe Heisdorffer was 57th.
In the boys race the top-3 runners would all finish in the top-11 in the race.
Leading the way was junior Lane Fariss who finished fifth with a time of 17:15.1. Cole Millikin would finish ninth overall with a time of 17:40.9.
“It felt good through most of the race, I felt light on my feet and the grass here is really soft,” Millikin said. “It was a little slippery though, which made it hard around some of the turns. It was a good run though, low fatigue since it is a Saturday, and I didn’t have class all day. For a Saturday night it was great conditions to run in, and different conditions too.”
Mason Dahlstrom would finish 11th for the Panthers, turning in another sub-18 minute time with a race in 17:52.8.
Both of the Pekin teams were able to experience a different type of race, not just because they were racing at dark.
Several of the Pekin classmates came to the meet to cheer on their classmates throughout the golf course, which was lit up through the use of temporary lights.
“We had some classmates from school that were able to come down and cheer us on, they went all crazy too, painting their bodies,” Millikin said about his classmates who showed up with neon-colored paint. “That was really cool. It is nice to see people come out and support cross country, because it isn’t a sport that a lot of people come and watch. It is always nice to have that support.”
Landon Fariss finished 47th. In 50th was Brody Sobaski. Jaxon Mefford would finish 59th while Clayton Harvey finished in 75th.
Pekin’s boys finished fourth overall scoring 116 points. Chariton won with 26 points. In the girls race Iowa City West scored 42 points in the girls race to win. Pekin finished with 142 points in seventh place.
