The Fairfield cross country teams competed Monday, October 6th, at the Hillcrest Academy Invitational, where both the boys’ and girls’ squads turned in solid performances against a strong field of programs.
On the girls’ side, Fairfield finished fifth overall with a team score of 103. Leading the way for the Trojans was Alex Jo Steward, who earned a 16th-place finish, followed closely by Naomi Stiemsma in 18th and Caroline Van Pelt in 22nd. Rounding out Fairfield’s runners were Anna McAvan in 31st, Kensley Fligg in 34th, and Bailey Belzer in 35th.
In the team standings, English Valleys, ranked #11 in Class 1A, captured the team title with 42 points. They were followed by North Mahaska with 67, Louisa-Muscatine with 74, Washington with 82, and Fairfield’s fifth-place score of 103. Iowa City Regina placed sixth with 114.
The boys’ team placed sixth overall with a total of 170 points. Clae Cass led the Trojans with a 27th-place finish, followed by John Miller in 34th, Elijah Hamilton in 37th, Drew Myers in 42nd, Arron Wellnitz in 46th, and Sam Nelson in 47th.
The boys’ team leaderboard featured Washington and Louisa-Muscatine — ranked #7 in Class 1A — both at the top with 53 points each, but the Demons placed first. West Liberty followed in third with 75, just ahead of Iowa City Regina with 76. English Valleys placed fifth with 157, Fairfield took sixth with 170, while Hillcrest Academy and HLV rounded out the field with 180 and 182 respectively.
Head coach Jerrod Belzer said that while it wasn’t Fairfield’s strongest team showing of the season, several individual efforts stood out. “It wasn’t our best night, team-wise, but we had several really good personal races,” Belzer said. “Clae Cass and Bailey Belzer had good races for our upperclassmen. Naomi Stiemsma, Anna McAvan, Kensley Fligg, Elijah Hamilton, Sam Nelson, and Sawyer McCready were our underclassmen that had great improvement from last year.” McCready, who competed in the junior varsity race, and Stiemsma showed the most dramatic gains from last season, improving their times by 3:04 and 2:04, respectively. Overall, Fairfield’s high school runners averaged a 23-second improvement from a year ago.
Belzer said the focus now is on recovery and fine-tuning ahead of the upcoming conference meet next Thursday in Mount Pleasant. “We’re just focused on staying fresh now for our conference meet,” he said.
Despite not reaching their team goals at Hillcrest, Fairfield’s mix of seasoned runners and rapidly improving underclassmen continues to build momentum as the postseason approaches.
