The Fairfield girls and boys cross country teams each finished second Tuesday, October 6th at the Hillcrest Academy Invitational, with Sigourney and Ottumwa also competing in what was a deep and competitive field.
Girls Results
Washington won the girls team title with 57 points, followed by Fairfield in second with 69, Regina Catholic third with 72, English Valleys fourth with 104, Ottumwa fifth with 108, Louisa-Muscatine sixth with 125, North Mahaska seventh with 140, and Montezuma eighth with 168. Emma Horak of Washington won the individual title at 21:35.7.
Fairfield was led by a strong performance from Ava Jones, who placed fourth at 22:11.9, edging out No. 5-ranked Fiona McGill of Louisa-Muscatine who finished fifth at 22:19.2. Alex Jo Steward followed in seventh at 22:25.0. Kensley Fligg placed 17th at 23:36.1, Naomi Stiemsma 22nd at 24:30.2, Madilyn Miller 36th at 25:56.1, and Fernanda Baez 55th at 29:33.7.
Ottumwa was led by Sophie Schmidt in sixth place at 22:24.9, followed by Khloe Droz in 21st at 24:29.7, Lauren Reece in 27th at 25:13.1, Hayden Keith in 31st at 25:19.1, and Dulce Bellastaros in 50th at 28:01.4.
Sigourney was led by Jayde Snakenberg in 18th at 23:37.9, followed by Cloee Wilson in 19th at 23:58.4, Harpyr Hinnah in 47th at 27:29.7, and Julia Striegel in 52nd at 29:10.9.
Boys Results
No. 19-ranked Washington won the boys team title with 60 points, followed by Fairfield in second with 82, No. 15-ranked Regina Catholic third with 101, No. 17-ranked Iowa City West fourth with 104, Ottumwa fifth with 186, English Valleys sixth with 199, Hillcrest Academy seventh with 200, Coram Deo Academy eighth with 203, Louisa-Muscatine ninth with 244, Montezuma tenth with 247, West Liberty 11th with 260, North Mahaska 12th with 264, Sigourney 13th with 287, and Wapello 14th with 377. No. 21-ranked Parker Tschantz of Washington won the individual title at 17:26.9, with Washington placing three runners in the top four.
Fairfield was led by Elijah Hamilton in seventh at 18:31.3, followed by Parker Reid in 11th at 18:45.5, Brice Boatright in 12th at 18:48.2, Kalen Patterson in 25th at 19:27.1, Aaron Wellnitz in 29th at 19:31.5, River Fulton in 34th at 19:50.9, and Liam Dowd-Robbins in 40th at 20:08.5.
Ottumwa was led by Robert Haw in 21st at 19:18.5, followed by Diego Lopez in 38th at 20:01.6, Xayden Pauls in 43rd at 20:32.2, Jairus Hurley in 44th at 20:33.3, Carson Carrow in 45th at 20:35.6, Titus O’Dell in 57th at 21:15.3, and Charles Smith in 61st at 21:37.7.
Sigourney was led by Cole Klett in 35th at 19:52.3, followed by Jordan Anderson in 58th at 21:22.5, Levi Myers in 62nd at 21:40.9, Brody Seeley in 68th at 22:18.0, and Isaac Jones in 71st at 22:49.3.
Coach Belzer’s Thoughts
Fairfield head coach Jerrod Belzer credited Washington for their dominant performance while highlighting the positives from his own team’s showing. “Hats off to Washington — they ran really well in both varsity races. They’ve positioned themselves as the team to beat in the SEC. Certainly we’re trying to chase them down but we know it won’t be easy to do,” Belzer said. “We did have a lot of positives though. Ava and Alex did a great job pacing the girls and kept us in contention up front. We thought our boys ran really well overall. They did a nice job of running together and it was that pack running that allowed them to beat some solid teams.”
Fairfield’s next action is the Southeast Conference meet at Washington’s Elks Fairview Golf Course on Tuesday, October 13th. Sigourney and Ottumwa both compete Thursday, October 8th — Sigourney at Montezuma’s Big Springs Shooting Range and Ottumwa at Wapello’s Heritage Oaks Golf and Country Club hosted by Mediapolis.
