Conference champions x2

The Glenwood girls and boys cross country teams swept the team titles at the Hawkeye 10 Cross Country Meet Thursday in Denison.

The sweep is actually the second time Glenwood has accomplished the feat – the first was in 2017 at Clarinda – and both teams did it in dramatic fashion, ending the reign of the  Harlan girls and the Council Bluffs Lewis Central boys, both two-time defending champions.

The Glenwood girls, who placed second last year, outpaced the Cyclones 42 to 57 in the team standings. The boys narrowly edged the Titans 63 to 70 for the boys title.

“I’m so proud,” said Glenwood girls coach Dani Woodman. “To see everyone winning was such an exciting, happy moment.”

Creston’s Braelyn Baker repeated as the girls champion with a time of 19:51.75. The boys individual title went to Atlantic’s Craig Alan Becker in a time of 16:25.18.

The Rams’ Emma Hughes was the runner-up in the girls race thanks to a late final push and maybe a slight miscalculation on how far she was from the finish line.

Woodman’s team had never raced at Denison before so Hughes, hearing some cheering, thought the finish was closer than it actually was so she started her kick a little early. The move paid off, however. Hughes passed three runners and finished second with a time of 19:55.70, four seconds behind Baker.

“She realized she had a little bit more than she thought but she finished strong,” Woodman said. “That’s her racing style. She had one of the best second half of a race I’ve seen. She’s a very smart runner who always finishes strong.”    

After Hughes, the Rams other four place winners all ran among the top 18. Erin Schultz picked up a ninth place finish, Riley Wiese a 10th place, Lauren Hughes was 12th and Rachel Mullennax was 17th.

“We always try for a benchmark of five in the top 25 but we knew, as good as Harlan is, and their consistency, we needed to do better than that and we got what we wanted,” Woodman said.

The Glenwood girls have won the varsity, junior varsity and middle school races at their last four meets.

“That’s kind of special,” Woodman said. “They really are dedicated. The girls ask me how much they can run. They’re passionate and dedicated to this.”

After injuries and illness, Glenwood boys have shown steady improvement since week one. Heading into the conference meet head coach Todd Peveril was confident his team could win it if things fell into place.

And they did.

Andrew Smith ran a 17:09.17 to place sixth and lead a Ram squad that had all five of its place winners finish in the top 25 – a first for Peveril’s squad this year.

“It feels like we put it all together,” he said. “In our other win, Creston, we didn’t run this well.”

Smith, a freshman, continued his strong running, but was disappointed in his sixth place finish. Just four seconds separated him and fourth place runner Nathan Sell of Lewis Central.

“He told me “I blew it, I should have beat those two,’” said Peverill. “I told him don’t worry about it. The way we train, you plateau, you have one bad meet – if you can call this a bad meet – and the next meet you come out really good. He’ll be ready for the state qualifying meet. He’ll run well.”

Fellow freshmen Liam Hays was 10th and Bryant Keller 13th, sandwiched around a 12th place showing by senior Nathan Rohrberg.

“Liam and Bryant, they both ran fabulous races,” Peverill said. “Nate is finally back to where he was. At one point Bryant passed him with about a half mile left and Nate told me he was not going to let three freshmen beat him so he picked it up and got 12th.”

A year removed from a disappointing sixth place finish at the conference meet, Peverill said there is some vindication to winning it this year. Although he does point out a big injury last year did factor and this is a completely different team.

“We’re young,” he said. “With the freshmen we have and the sophomore class getting confident and improving, this team got it going because of those freshmen.”

Tyler Huey, who had been limited on varsity this season with a leg injury, ran in the junior varsity meet but would have placed 25th in the varsity race. The senior appears to be at full strength and Peverill said he’ll slide right back into the varsity for this week’s state qualifying meet.

The Rams head to Winterset today for the state qualifying meet. Qualifying teams and runners will advance to the Iowa State Cross Country Meet Oct. 30-31 in Fort Dodge.

Hawkeye 10 Conference Meet
Girls Team Results
1. Glenwood, 42. 2. Harlan, 57. 3. Atlantic, 75. 4. Creston, 114. 5. Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 120. 6. Shenandoah, 159. 7. Red Oak, 185. 8. Kuemper Catholic, 221. 9. Denison, 233.

Glenwood Girls Place Winners
2. Emma Hughes, 19:55.70. 9. Erin Schultz, 20:29.07. 10. Riley Wiese, 20:29.72. 12. Lauren Hughes, 20:31.43. 17. Rachel Mullennax, 21:04.77. 18. Karlee Raymond, 21:14.52. 23. Ryley Nebel, 21:48.39.

Boys Team Results
1. Glenwood, 63. 2. Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 70. 3. Atlantic, 77. 4. Harlan, 122. 5. Kuemper Catholic, 137. 6. Clarinda, 147. 7. Council Bluffs St. Albert, 161. 8. Denison, 192. 9. Red Oak, 196. 10. Shenandoah, 238.

Glenwood Boys Place Winners
6. Andrew Smith, 17:09.17. 10. Liam Hays, 17:35.18. 12. Nathan Rohrberg, 17:42.90. 13. Bryant Keller, 17:47.60. 25. Dillon Anderson, 18:28.29. 40. Ethan Chappell, 19:11.39.