Williamsburg wins 5 of 6 divisions

WILLIAMSBURG — It was nearly a clean sweep of the team titles for the Williamsburg cross country runners Tuesday, Aug. 29, as they won five of the six divisions in their own co-ed invitational at the Williamsburg Rec Center.

The varsity and junior varsity girls and boys, and the junior high girls were all team champions for the Raiders. And while the junior high boys didn’t join them, they did the next best thing by crowning the individual champion.

“It was awesome to really compete well in front of the home crowd today,” said Williamsburg coach Nick Nordheim. “The hot conditions made it tough to hit some great times, but I thought we competed really hard. Winning 5 of the 6 divisions was a lot of fun for the kids and hopefully this builds some confidence going into the rest of the season.”

The Raider varsity boys claimed their second victory in as many meets, placing three of their five scoring runners in the top 10, to hold off South Tama, 60-66.

Seniors Wes Hulseberg and Calvin Seeman led Williamsburg across the 5K course, finishing third and fifth, respectively in 17:55 and 18:19. On their heels in 10th place in 18:43 was sophomore Nile Busch.

Sophomores Tyler McMullin and Finn Brummel added Top 25 runs, McMillin placing 20th in 19:03 and Brummel 22nd in 19:13.

South Tama’s Tommy Tyynismaa and James Brant, who ran out front the entire race, took the top two places in 16:59 and 17:30, but their supporting cast wasn’t as good as Williamsburg’s.

“Our guys continued the momentum we started to build on Saturday (at CR Prairie),” Nordheim said. “These guys are all-in and it’s showing. Both the JV and varsity teams beat some really good competition. I thought the front of our JV pack had outstanding races. There is going to be some major competition for varsity spots, but that will only make us stronger.”

The Raider JV boys had the No. 2, 3, 4, 10 and 11 place winners en route to a 19-point victory over Grinnell, 30-49.

Only 24 seconds separated senior Crew Klinger, sophomore Nolan Kent and freshman Charlie Koons, finishing second, third and fourth in 19:53, 20:11 and 20:17.

Sophomores Hudson Nunnelley and Luke Hirko followed them at No. 10 and 11 in 21:17 and 21:19.

Williamsburg’s varsity girls atoned for a disappointing showing in their first meet of the season to run better than anyone, beating their closest challengers, Prairie City-Monroe, 64-72.

Running at near full strength helped the Raiders. For the second straight meet it was freshman Edie Axmear leading Williamsburg. She finished fourth in 22:48 and was one of only four girls to go under 23 minutes.

Zada Buchholtz’ return to the lineup provided a big boost to the Raiders as the senior all-stater placed 13th in 23:52.

Freshmen newcomers Makenna Capper and Graceyn Uhlmann, and sophomores Ashlyn Hoffman and Zoe Hulseberg added top 20 performances. Capper was 14th in 24:05, Hoffman 16th in 24:22, Hulseberg 18th in 24:26 and Uhlmann 19h in 24:31.

“The girls really showed they wanted to compete after a tough day on Saturday,” said Nordheim. “Coming back as strong as they did shows they have some guts and they want to be great.

“Edie is becoming a star and it was great to have Zada back running her first race of the year. The rest of our young team ran a strong pack and helped get the team win.”

With all five of their scoring runners in the top 10, Williamsburg’s JV girls cruised to victory, easily outdistancing runner-up Davis County, 25-47.

Junior Lillyona Abnernathy placed third in 27:27, senior Reagan McMenomy was fourth in 27:43, junior Molly Thomas fifth in 27:58, freshman Naomi Sitas sixth in 27:59 and senior Kaitlyn Snow ninth in 29:02.

The Raider junior girls had six runners finish in the top 10 while dominating the field with a score of 20. Channing Becker led Williamsburg, completing the 1.5 mile race in 9:32 to take runner-up honors to Mid-Prairie’s Rachel Hostetler, who was clocked in 9:21.

Ella Kleinmeyer, Leighton Maas, Aubre Wilde and Maddie Gorsh placed fifth through eighth in 10:17, 10:36, 10:38 and 11:05, and Tenley Sanchez ran 10th in 11:13.

“Our junior high girls were just amazing,” Nordheim said. “Having six in the top 10 was outstanding, but even more impressive was that five of them were running their first cross country races ever.

“We knew Channing would be outstanding like always, but having those rookies step up was big for us. We had five more JH girls in the Top 25 so the future is looking bright.”

Williamsburg’s Marcus Pirk won the JH boys’ race in 8:43, two seconds ahead of PC-M’s Owen Ousterhaus.

The next Raider to cross the finish line was Weston Drahos, 15th in 10:06.

“I thought Marcus was fantastic,” said Nordheim. “He went out aggressive which made it tough in the heat, but he held on.”

Area teams

HLV Victor finished 10th and Belle Plaine 13th in the Varsity Boys meet. Iowa Valley finished 10th in the varsity girls division.

HLV middle school girls finished sixth.

Individual results

Middle school boys, 1.5 miles

Ayden Wagner, Iowa Valley, 13:04.4; Gavin Nelson, Iowa Valley, 15:35.3; Ethan Bush, Iowa Valley, 16:30.2.

Middle school girls, 1.5 miles

Megan Thys, HLV, 13:14.7; Annie Balvin, HLV, 13:37.9; Amery Busch, Iowa Valley, 13:51.6; Brenna Hawkins, HLV, 14.19.9; Paisley Allee, HLV, 14:36.7; Peyton Reyna, Iowa Valley, 21:16.5.

Varsity boys, 5K

Brody Sternhagen, HLV Victor, 20:13.7; Austin VanHamme, HLV Victor, 21:30.1; Nolan Pirkl, HLV Victor, 21:43.7; Drew Thys, HLV Victor, 22:00.7; Maddox Purk, Belle Plaine, 22:01.6; Hunter Henry, Belle Plaine, 22:30.4; Payton Roth, HLV, 22:42.5; Harry Singh, Belle Plaine, 24:21.1; Ayden Hollister, Iowa Valley, 24:34.2; Phillip Drahos, Belle Plaine, 26:11.7; Sawyer Neuhaus, Belle Plaine, 31:13.6; Derek Bral, Iowa Valley, 32:23.8; Elijah Pritchard, Iowa Valley, 35.51.2.

Varsity girls, 5K

Hannah Ryan, Iowa Valley, 27:57.8; Kathryn Kilgard, Iowa Valley, 28:14.7; Grace Ryan, Iowa Valley, 29:56.0; Brooklyn Kilgaard, Iowa Valley, 30:49.9; Hannah Smolik, Iowa Valley, 33:30.9; Elle Jacobi, Belle Plaine, 34:58.6.