Eichhorn makes season debut

BROOKLYN — If there was a statewide vote for the hilliest cross-country course, the Brooklyn-Victor Country Club would be a worthy nomination.

The course provided multiple steep hills that had to be run twice by 5k participants Monday night.

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For Belle Plaine’s Luke Eichhorn, it was quite the course on which to make his season debut.

“It was very, very tough,” Eichhorn said.

”It was the most demanding race physically and mentally for sure. I came through the first mile feeling pretty rough and knew I got out too quickly. Overall, it was a nice rust-buster.“

The Plainsmen senior had recovering from an injury but is grateful to be back in action.

“It was super exciting to be back out and competing with everyone,” Eichhorn said. “I’m super grateful to be back and be able to help my teammates and the team score.”

An 11th place finish at last year’s state qualifying meet had Eichhorn one spot short of making it as an individual.

For the rest of this season, Eichhorn is going to give it his all and see where things go, he said.

“I’m just going to do my best to show up each day, keep stacking days and stay consistent,” Eichhorn said.

“At the end of the day, I’m just glad to be healthy and training. If I don’t meet all my goals this year, it’s still awesome to be able to compete with and be around the team.”

English Valleys’ Gage Heyne won his fourth meet of the season, running 17:43 on the challenging course. Heyne has run as fast at 16:06 this season so far.

HLV took home the boys' team title, scoring 85, with Belle Plaine in second with 91.

On the girls side, there were only two scoring teams.

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English Valleys outdueled North Tama 27-76.

Anna Luers won the race in 22:49.

Varsity Girls

TEAM RESULTS

1. English Valleys 27, 2. North Tama 76

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Winner: 1. Anna Luers (English Valleys), 22:49.0

English Valleys (27): 1. Anna Luers (English Valleys), 22:49.0; 5. Addison Achenbach, 23:59.1; 6. Kaylee Frazier, 25:15.8; 7. Aubrey Achenbach, 24:21.0; 8. Kaylynn Caster, 24:42.3; 9. Kailor Lown, 24:56.8; 22. Emily Sieren, 33;56.5

BGM: 12. Claire Manatt, 27:29.4; 18. Payton Manatt, 31:24.4; 19. Allie Blankenship, 32:26.4

Belle Plaine: 15. Aurora Hemmingsen-Brinkman, 30:18.7; 21. Elle Jacobi, 33:14.8

HLV: 17. Paisley Allee, 30:56.4; 24. Raelene Hawkins, 34:40.1

Iowa Valley: 20. Kathryn Kilgard, 32:35.6; 26. Hannah Smolik, 36:38.5

Varsity Boys

TEAM RESULTS

1. HLV 85, 2. Belle Plaine 91, Gladbrook-Reinbeck 124, 4. Iowa Valley 159

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Winner: 1. Gage Heyne (English Valleys), 17:43.2

HLV (85): 7. Peyton Roth, 20:24.4; 11. Drew Thys, 21:47.7; 14. Wes Davis, 22:59.8; 24. Cael Weisskopf, 24:39.4; 26. Tristan Pirkl, 25:35.8; 30. Lance Milton, 27:49.2

Belle Plaine (91): 6. Luke Eichhorn, 20:22.9; 10. Maddox Purk, 21:41.8; 16. Devin Timm, 23:21.9; 27. Caleb Argo, 26:19.1; 29. Ian Davis, 26:55.9; 35, Sawyer Neuhaus, 30:11.3

Iowa Valley (159): 5. Jeffrey Crawford, 20:05.7; 33. Patrick Peach, 29:14.7; 34. Ayden Wagner, 29:43.5; 36. Derek Bral, 30:39.1; 37. Austin Trimble, 33:26.6; 40, Ethan Busch, 42:40.0

English Valleys: 1. Gage Heyne, 17:43.2; 4. Isaac Frazier, 20:01.0; 9. Evan Koehn, 20:42.7