Williamsburg runners take team titles

VAN HORNE — Both the Williamsburg girls and boys claimed team championships in cross-country races Saturday, Sept. 9, at the Benton Community Invitational in Van Horne.

The Raider girls had two runners finish in the top 10 and totaled 48 points to hold off Cedar Rapids Xavier (51) and Vinton-Shellsburg (58) for top team honors.

Freshman Edie Axmear continued to be Williamsburg’s No. 1 runner, placing third in the 5K race in 21:15.

Senior Zada Buchholtz joined Axmear in the top 10, finishing sixth in 21:59.

Freshman Makenna Capper and sophomores Ashlyn Hoffman and Anya Rivera followed, placing 12th, 13th and 14th, respectively, in 23:14, 23:19 and 23:28.

“The girls keep making progress little by little,” said Williamsburg Coach Nick Nordheim. “We've had some different people step up to fill out our top seven the last few meets, but that's a good thing. The competition will make us better.”

“Zada is continuing her strong comeback and just keeps dropping big chunks of time,” Nordheim added. “Her all-state form isn't too far away.

“Makenna, Ashlyn and Anya ran our strongest 3-4-5 of the season. If they can continue to close the gap to Edie and Zada, we could end up being really good,” Nordheim said.

The Raider boys, with all five of their scoring runners in the top 12, out distanced Vinton-Shellsburg for the team crown, 34-42.

Williamsburg’s top four — seniors Wes Hulseberg and Calvin Seeman and sophomores Tyler McMullin and Nile Busch — finished within 38 seconds of each other.

Hulseberg placed third in 17:22, Seeman fourth in 17:37, McMullin seventh in 17:59 and Busch eighth in 18:00. Sophomore Finn Brummel wasn’t too far back, finishing 12th in 18:31.

“Having Tyler step up with those other top three guys is really important,” Nordheim said. “He is a gutsy runner and a guy we need to continue to close the gap to Wes and Calvin. Today was a great breakthrough for him.

“Finn was great today as well,” said Nordheim. “If we can get him to be within a minute of our top runner, this team will be tough to beat.”

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Nordheim also expressed his joy about the performances of his non-scoring runners.

“I'm really excited by the progress of our freshmen,” the coach said. “I thought Colin [Reed] and Charlie [Koons] really took big steps forward today and could play big roles for us as the season progresses.

“Our other two freshmen, Brevin [Zirkel] and Kayden [Schaefer], had fantastic time drops as well.”

“We had a whole team of guys step up today. Jaxson [Douglas] and Luke [Kleinmeyer] blew away their previous best races of the year. It's awesome to see guys motivated to be great no matter where they are in the lineup.”

Looking back at all of his runners’ performances, including Channing Becker’s individual title in the junior high girls’ race, Maelyn Parson’s first varsity appearance, and the best races run so far by seniors Kaitlyn Snow and Cady Campbell, Nordheim said, “I thought we had a great overall day. We are really making progress and starting to learn how to compete and take chances in our racing.”

Grinnell Invite

Williamsburg also competed in the Grinnell Invitational Tuesday, Sept. 5. The meet was held in the morning to avoid the afternoon heat.

Pella placed all five of its scoring runners in the top six of both races to sweep the team titles.

The Raider girls took runner-up honors to Pella, 18-60, led by Axmear’s seventh place finish in 21:31.

Buchholtz was 11th in 23:03, Capper 13th in 24:03, Uhlmann 14th in 24:07, Hoffman 15th in 24:21 and Reagan McMenomy 16th in 24:28.

Williamsburg’s boys placed third as a team (90) behind Pella (18) and South Tama (76).

Seeman finished eighth in 17:34, Busch 12th in 18:00, Hulseberg 14th in 18:10, McMullin 24th in 18:55 and Nolan Kent 32nd in 19:43.

“We had some really great individual performances, but I'd say overall we were just all right,” said Nordheim. “It is time for us to start taking some chances and having some breakthroughs. We're getting a few of those, but not enough to be where our goals are.”

“Calvin is really running tough right now,” said Nordheim. “Nothing really seems to phase him, and I'm not sure what more you can say about Nile at this point. He is just having crazy improvements from a year ago. The goal of a coach is to get more guys to race with the kind of guts he is showing.”