Warriors take advantage of fast course at Jesup
Declan Finley was 93rd at Jesup, earning a course and season best time of 19:59. (Photo by Bev Hamann)
For Central, one of the biggest highlights of the Jesup Invitational was sophomore Blair Scherf winning the girls junior varsity race, beating 118 runners and tying her career best time of 22:42.7. (Photo by Bev Hamann)
By Audrey Posten | Times-Register
The Central boys and girls cross country teams competed at the Jesup Invitational on Sept. 30, in what assistant coach Martha Bauder said is, by far, the biggest meet of the season with 34 schools at various levels and nearly 900 runners.
“While it was a bit warmer than we normally like, this meet was a good one for us, as many of our runners took advantage of the fast course and stiff competition,” Bauder said.
One of the biggest highlights was sophomore Blair Scherf winning the girls junior varsity race, beating 118 runners and tying her career best time of 22:42.7.
“She took the lead shortly after the first mile and battled to stay ahead the rest of the race, which can be a very uncomfortable feeling of urgency for those last two miles,” according to Bauder.
Behind Scherf, teammate Payton Stannard placed 22nd with a career best time of 24:43. Hannah Friedlein posted a season best 27:10.1 for 57th place, followed by Lilly Becwar in 78th with a 27:47.6. A 30:20.5 slotted Mya Gregerson into 101st place.
The JV girls were eighth overall and third among Class 1A teams.
In the boys races, Central’s varsity runners combined for 12th overall and first of the Class 1A teams. Carson Ruegnitz and Jesse Polkinghorn placed a respective 41st and 42nd with times of 18:20.4 and 18:22.1. That was a course and season best for Ruegnitz and career best for Polkinghorn. A 19:34.6 ranked Henry Reimer 81st, while Tyce Zittergruen was a close 88th with a time of 19:47.4 and Declan Finley was 93rd at a course and season best 19:59.
Breckon Holst led Central’s JV boys runners, placing 30th after running the race in 20:40.7. Michael White took 33rd on a time of 20:42.4, while Lukas Friedlein was 58th with a 22:00.3. Bryce Heller ran a 22:33.4 for 74th place and Griffin Koehn was 105th with a time of 24:21.3. For Holst and Friedlein, those were career best marks, while Heller set a season best.
The JV boys finished 10th overall and third of Class 1A teams.
Next up for Central was a meet at South Winneshiek on Oct. 7, the last competition before the Upper Iowa Conference meet in Elkader on Thursday, Oct. 16.
