Pekin’s cross country teams expecting to rebuild this season

Pekin cross country coach Davis Eidahl has eight girls and 11 boys making up the 2024 Pekin high school cross country teams this season. This will be a rebuilding year for the Pekin runners as they get used to a smaller team that graduated five runners that had state experience.

The girls’ team will be without four-time state runners Audrey Fariss and Lauren Steigleder and two-time state runner Lexi Swearingen. Pekin does return their number one runner Chloe Glosser who the team will be built around. Besides Chloe, Abbi Guise and Bre Drish return from last season’s sixth-place state team.

The boys’ team has lost their all-state runner Brady McWhirter and their number two runner JayDon Wolver. The team does return Cole Millikin, Mason Dahlstrom, Lane Fariss, and Dylan Sobaski from last year’s 10th place state team.

Says coach Eidahl, “the season has started slow, but if everyone can be healthy by the first of October, we should be a competitive team.”

Included in this year’s team are (boys) Wyatt Brown, Conor Cloyd, Mason Dahlstrom, Lane Fariss, Liam Guise, Sam Hall, Clayton Harvey, Hayden Miller, Cole Millikin, Brody Sobaski, Dylan Sobaski; (girls) Callie Deutschle, Breanna Drish, Renae Eubanks, Chloe Glosser, Abby Guise, Harper Guise, Hailey Pedrick, Maddy Petrehn, and Brinley Phillips. Managers for the team are Henry Eubanks, Bree Earnest, Ava Heisdorffer, and Audra Steigleder.

The Panther teams have had two meets so far this year, Albia and the Pekin-hosted race at Wildwood in Ottumwa.

Albia, 8/29

The Pekin girls’ team opened up the 2024 season with a second-place finish at Albia on August 29. Host team Albia won with 31 points, while Pekin was second with 64, and Wayne Corydon took third with 65.

Chloe Glosser won the race with a time of 19:28.20. Abby Guise was the second Panther in, finishing 14th in 25:11.30. Renae Eubanks finished 18th in 25:27.70, Harper Guise was 19th in 25:35.70, and Brinley Phillips finished 20th in 25:46.80. Maddy Petrehn finished 24th in 26:07.70, Hailey Pedrick was 32nd in 29:41.50, Callie Deutschle was 33rd in 29:44.50, and Breanna Drish finished 45th in 35:48.70.

Pekin’s boys’ team had a fourth-place finish at Albia with 68 points. Winning was Knoxville with 41, second went to Van Buren with 50, and Albia finished third with 59 points.

Cole Millikin was the top Pekin runner, finishing third in a time of 18:12.80. Mason Dahlstrom had a top 10 finish, taking fifth in 18:33.10. Lane Fariss finished 18th in 20:21.60, and Sam Hall was 21st in 20:52.40. Brody Sobaski finished 30th in 22:24.30, Dylan Sobaski finished 38th in 23:18.00, Conor Cloyd was 39th in 23:47.10, Liam Guise finished 48th in 25:12.10, Hayden Miller was 55th in 26:15.70, and Clayton Harvey was 62nd in 27:32.10.

Wildwood, 9/5

The Pekin boys’ high school team finished third with 82 points. Winning was Danville with 35, followed by Van Buren in second with 55.

Mason Dahlstrom was the top runner for the Panthers, finishing fourth in 18:18.22. Also getting top 10 finishes were Cole Millikin in 7th in 18:38.90, and Lane Fariss 10th with a time of 19:02.51. Sam Hall finished 23rd in 20:15.27, Dylan Sobaski was 41st in 21:47.81, Brody Sobaski was 50th in 22:18.05, and Conor Cloyd finished 58th in 22:40.77. Hayden Miller finished 83rd with a time of 25:13.02, Clayton Harvey finished 85th in 25:18.06, and Liam Guise finished 92nd in 25:55.80.

The Panther high school girls’ team scored 96 points, earning them a third-place finish at Wildwood also. Danville won with 66, while Ottumwa took second with 88.

Chloe Glosser won the event with a time of 20:02.69. Abby Guise was the next Panther to cross the line, finishing 18th in 24:09.82. Renae Eubanks finished 29th in 25:37.76, Maddy Petrehn finished 33rd in 25:49.01, and Callie Deutschle was 38th in 27:14.60.

Pekin’s middle school girls’ team won with 18 points. Mya Glick was the top runner for Pekin, finishing fourth in 11:22.52. Also having top 10 finishes for Pekin were Scout Lock in 6th in 11:23.54, Stella Dickey 8th in 11:30.59, and Zoe Heisdorffer in 10th in 11:3493. Bekah Zirkle finished 31st in 14:59.21, Zoey Denison was 34th in 15:08.35, Reagan Wise finished 36th in 15:24.00, and Haven Hensley was 40th in 16:37.73.

Pekin’s middle school boys’ team had two runners competing. Landon Fariss finished seventh in 10:27.62 and Colton Harvey was 11th in 11:04.62.

The cross country teams will next be competing at Luther College on Saturday, Sept. 14, and Lynnville-Sully on Thursday, Sept. 19.