The Van Buren County and Pekin cross country teams traveled to the Cedar Crest Country Club in Columbus Junction on Monday, October 5th for the Mike Jay Invitational, hosted by Columbus. Van Buren County had an outstanding day, winning the girls team title and finishing second in the boys race, while Pekin turned in a strong performance across both races as well.
Girls Results
No. 6-ranked Van Buren County won the girls team title with 46 points, followed by Pekin in second with 68, Danville third with 70, Columbus fourth with 85, and WACO fifth with 88. Highland, Prince of Peace Catholic, New London, and Winfield-Mount Union were also present. No. 3-ranked Josie Dykstra of WACO won the individual title at 19:28.6.
Kayley Snowgren led Van Buren County in fourth place at 22:16.9, followed by Rory Philips in sixth at 22:20.2, Adalyn Snowgren in eighth at 22:24.6, Gabby Titus in 13th at 23:01.9, Cami Daugherty in 20th at 24:29.1, Brystol Wiley in 21st at 24:50.6, Paisley Baker in 30th at 27:37.8, and Hailey Bailey in 47th at 38:09.0.
Jude Freese-McCabe led Pekin with a ninth-place finish at 22:30.2, followed by Stella Dickey in 11th at 22:40.4, Scout Lock in 12th at 22:58.1, Harper Guise in 22nd at 25:00.0, Bree Earnest in 24th at 25:37.0, Emerson Porter in 27th at 26:19.1, Maddy Petrehn in 27th at 26:40.1, and Reagan Wise in 36th at 28:23.4.
Boys Results
No. 7-ranked Columbus won the boys team title with 23 points, placing all five of their scorers in the top eight, six runners in the top nine, and nine runners in the top 20 — a dominant home course performance. Van Buren County finished second with 61, Pekin third with 66, Danville fourth with 101, New London fifth with 137, and Winfield-Mount Union sixth with 156. Highland, Prince of Peace Catholic, and WACO were also present. Leondre Ceant of Columbus won the individual title at 17:38.6.
Landry Loeffler led Van Buren County with a strong second-place finish at 17:55.8, followed by Kayden Farris in eighth at 18:28.4, Bo Brecount in 19th at 19:56.2, Sawyer Spiker in 28th at 21:03.9, Jackson Meek in 31st at 21:27.7, Thomas Roberts in 42nd at 22:28.5, Ramzes Hernandez in 43rd at 22:40.4, and Malik Huntington in 51st at 24:28.9.
Mason Dahlstrom led Pekin with a fifth-place finish at 18:08.8, followed by Garrett Greiner in 21st at 20:14.3, Wyatt Brown in 24th at 20:29.5, Clayton Harvey in 25th at 20:41.2, Brody Sobaski in 27th at 20:57.9, Landon Fariss in 35th at 21:39.0, Asaa McCabe in 52nd at 24:40.3, Liam Guise in 58th at 26:24.3, and Hayden Miller in 60th at 26:31.9.
Middle School Results
In the middle school girls race, Pekin won the team title with 23 points, followed by Van Buren County in third with 38 points. Bristol Sobaski of Pekin won the individual title, followed by Kamryn Tharp of Van Buren County in second and Lainey Bainbridge of Van Buren County in third. Eleanora Ferrell of Pekin placed fifth, Adeline Dickey of Pekin sixth, Adalyn Porter of Pekin seventh, Braylee Chapman of Pekin 11th, Preslee Hixson of Pekin 12th, Cydney Clubb of Pekin 14th, and Finley Lowery of Van Buren County 15th.
In the middle school boys race, Van Buren County won the team title with 23 points, followed by New London in second with 32 points. Keegan Goehring of Van Buren County placed second, Krew Foster of Pekin third, Braxton Steepleton of Van Buren County eighth, Kaiden Hernandez of Van Buren County ninth, Kane Lowery of Van Buren County 14th, and Jacob Parker of Pekin 15th.
Coach DeHart’s Thoughts
Van Buren County head coach Lucinda DeHart praised the effort from both squads. “The Van Buren County Warriors had an outstanding showing at the Mike Jay Invitational, with both the girls and boys teams finishing near the top of the team standings,” DeHart said. She highlighted individual standouts on both sides including Kayley Snowgre, Rory Philips, Adalyn Snowgren, Gabby Titus, Landry Loeffler, and Kayden Farris.
DeHart also noted a unique team achievement on the day. “One of the highlights of the meet was the overall team performance. When the boys and girls team scores were combined, Van Buren County had the lowest overall combined point total at the meet, which says a lot about the depth and consistency of both teams.”
With championship season approaching, DeHart said the timing of this performance could not be better. “The team has been training hard throughout the season to be at their best toward the end of the year, and we are starting to see that hard work pay off. The runners are competing with confidence, racing for each other, and continuing to show improvement at the right time of the season. There is still work to be done, but this team continues to prove how strong they can be when they compete together.”
