The Van Buren County girls cross country team claimed their second team victory of the season on Tuesday, September 8th at the Riverview Club on a very hot evening, while the boys finished a close third. Pekin, Davis County, and Cardinal also competed at the meet.
Girls Results
Van Buren County won the girls team title with 33 points, followed by Mediapolis with 55, Danville with 65, Davis County with 74, and Pekin with 98. Cardinal, Keokuk, New London, and Winfield-Mount Union did not have enough runners to score as a team. Van Buren County’s team total time was 1:59:29.04 with an average of 23:53.81. Davis County’s total time was 2:09:53.98 with an average of 25:58.80. Pekin’s total time was 2:32:47.34 with an average of 30:33.47.
Avery Dietz of Mediapolis won the individual title at 20:09.88 out of 55 total runners. Van Buren County was led by Kayley Snowgren in third at 22:43.04, Adalyn Snowgren in fifth at 23:34.61, Rory Philips in sixth at 24:05.15, Cami Daugherty in ninth at 24:28.63, and Gabby Titus in tenth at 24:37.61. Brystol Wiley placed 24th at 27:06.71, Paisley Baker 34th at 30:59.35, and Hailey Bailey 52nd at 44:27.00. All five scorers for the Warriors landed in the top 10.
Pekin was led by eighth grader Jude Freese-McCabe in fourth at 22:51.19, followed by Emerson Porter in 31st at 30:07.55, Bree Earnest in 33rd at 30:42.69, Reagan Wise in 40th at 34:07.09, Zoe Heisdorffer in 42nd at 34:58.82, and Haven Hensley in 54th at 46:20.00.
Davis County was led by Gracyn Ware in seventh at 24:13.71, Dakota Houston in 13th at 25:10.35, Gabi McGregor in 15th at 25:22.06, Jaydee Bircher in 22nd at 26:51.67, Claire Garland in 27th at 28:16.19, Claire Benge in 32nd at 30:07.71, Ryli Baker in 45th at 35:51.17, and Jenna Gibson in 48th at 37:55.09.
Cardinal was led by Kyndall Sivak in 19th at 25:54.13, Raegan Pherigo in 39th at 33:50.17, Karter Crosby in 49th at 40:19.04, and Adaline Cloke in 50th at 40:21.88.
Boys Results
Mediapolis won the boys team title with 35 points, followed by Keokuk with 81, Van Buren County with 82, Davis County with 84, Pekin with 94, Winfield-Mount Union with 140, Cardinal with 146, and Danville with 158. New London did not have enough runners to score as a team. Van Buren County’s total time was 1:44:23.68 with an average of 20:52.74. Davis County’s total time was 1:44:48.10 with an average of 20:57.62. Pekin’s total time was 1:46:15.60 with an average of 21:15.12. Cardinal’s total time was 2:04:32.21 with an average of 24:54.45.
Will Schmidgall of Mediapolis won the individual title at 17:27.94 out of 76 total runners. Van Buren County was led by Landry Loeffler in second at 18:21.41. Eighth grader Bo Brecount, competing with the high school team for the first time, had an impressive 14th place finish at 20:13.95. Thomas Roberts placed 23rd at 21:41.34, Kayden Farris 26th at 21:59.45, Sawyer Spiker 27th at 22:07.53, Leo Jirak 39th at 23:19.33, Jackson Meek 42nd at 23:36.43, Camden Wells 49th at 24:31.29, Malik Huntington 59th at 27:03.19, and Chase Hedrick 65th at 29:01.33.
Pekin was led by Lane Fariss in third at 18:29.95 and Mason Dahlstrom in fourth at 18:32.51, followed by Garett Greiner in 33rd at 22:33.35, Brody Sobaski in 35th at 22:50.65, Clayton Harvey in 43rd at 23:49.14, Colton Harvey in 62nd at 28:14.89, Asaa McCabe in 63rd at 28:14.97, Hayden Miller in 64th at 28:26.47, and Liam Guise in 67th at 29:36.96.
Davis County was led by Gage Moss in fifth at 19:05.47, followed by Brock Brineger in 16th at 20:33.43, Connor Garland in 19th at 20:58.64, Evan Morrissey in 22nd at 21:40.69, Jagger Garmon in 30th at 22:29.87, Riley Benge in 31st at 22:31.52, Truett Van Maanen in 32nd at 22:32.71, Maddux Scamporino in 41st at 23:29.63, Asher McClure in 45th at 23:52.88, Cinch Wiegand in 52nd at 25:08.38, Lane Boyd in 54th at 25:39.79, Jacob Harsch in 55th at 25:44.67, O’Bannon Miller in 60th at 27:25.97, Erick Jimenez in 66th at 29:09.69, Maks Davis in 70th at 32:27.52, Rayden Lopshire in 71st at 32:38.48, and Hudson Yearling in 72nd at 32:49.01.
Cardinal was led by Channing Whennen in 11th at 19:53.19, followed by Gabriel Mason in 36th at 22:58.24, Dane Johnson in 40th at 23:27.26, Aden Short in 50th at 24:36.41, Kagan Vannoy in 73rd at 33:37.11, and Elio Basilio in 75th at 39:08.42.
Middle School Highlights
In the girls middle school race, Bristol Sobaski of Pekin won the individual title, followed by Kamryn Tharp of Van Buren County in second, Adelyn Goehring of Cardinal in third, Lainey Bainbridge of Van Buren County in fifth, Adalyn Porter of Pekin in seventh, Catelynn Garland of Davis County in ninth, Kyrie Burgmeier of Cardinal in tenth, and Piper Blair of Cardinal in eleventh.
In the boys middle school race, Keegan Goehring of Van Buren County won the individual title. Logan Bresch of Cardinal placed seventh, Brayden Olinger of Davis County eighth, Derick Chaney of Davis County 12th, and Kane Lowery of Van Buren County 15th.
Coach Comments
Van Buren County Head Coach Lucinda DeHart praised the entire team’s effort on a difficult evening. “Our girls’ cross-country team came away with a big win at our home meet tonight, marking their second team victory of the season,” DeHart said. “The girls, who are currently ranked No. 6 in the state, ran extremely well despite the challenging heat.” DeHart also highlighted Brecount’s performance and praised the team’s support for runners competing in their very first cross country meet. “One of the things we were most proud of tonight was seeing several runners compete in their very first cross country meet and successfully finish the race with encouragement and support from their teammates. As coaches, that is one of our favorite parts of coaching — watching our athletes encourage one another and seeing the team come together to help everyone succeed.”
DeHart also extended a heartfelt thank-you to the volunteers who helped make the meet safe in the heat, including high school and middle school principals, the superintendent, staff and board members, family members, hospital personnel, and other community members. “It truly takes a team to put on a meet, and tonight our community showed what that looks like,” she said.
Pekin Head Coach Davis Eidahl noted the team was shorthanded on the girls side, with several runners unavailable. Despite the circumstances, Freese-McCabe’s fourth-place finish and Fariss and Dahlstrom’s third and fourth place finishes on the boys side were highlights for the Panthers.
