Acosta leads Columbus runners at meet

IOWA CITY - The Columbus High School boys cross country team, led by sophomore Isaac Acosta, finished fourth in the junior varsity team race at the Iowa City West Earlybird Invitational Thursday, Aug. 29.

Acosta finished ninth out of 102 runners on the University of Iowa's Ashton Cross Country Course. The next Wildcat finishers were Garrett Palmer (26th), Daniel Martinez (31st), Freddy Vergara (35th), and Jesus Medrano (41st).

Van Iang led the Columbus girls with 40th place in the 103-runner JV girls race.

'I thought we had a very encouraging night for a first meet,” Columbus coach Steve Riley said. 'Isaac and Garrett ran better than last year, and as a team, we were better than last year at this meet.”

Riley said the Class 1A Wildcats run in the JV race at this meet because they can be competitive against Class 3A and 4A JV runners.

'This is just a beginning meet for a very young team, and I want to see us run against appropriate competition,” Riley said. 'I sure saw us compete (Thursday). It's the only JV race we will run our varsity runners in.”

He said he was really pleased with the efforts of four freshmen who were running in a high school race for the first time. They were Martinez, Oscar Alcala, Iang, and Averi Sipes.

TEAM RESULTS

JV boys – 1. Iowa City Liberty 21, 2. Bettendorf 36, 3. North Scott 94, 4. Columbus 110, 5. Williamsburg 113, 6. Wapello 190. No team score – Sigourney

Columbus (102 total runners) – 9. Isaac Acosta 19:29.3; 26. Garrett Palmer 21:39.0; 31. Daniel Martinez 21:55.0; 35. Freddy Vergara 21:59.6; 41. Jesus Medrano 22:26.0; 54. Mason Hills-Carrier 23:04.4; 72. Oscar Alcala 25:36.2; 74. Owen Watson 25:44.2; 102. Manny Estrada 39:07.1

JV girls – 1. Iowa City West 47, 2. Bettendorf 48, 3. Iowa City Liberty 55, 4. North Scott 86, 5. Williamsburg 119, 6. Columbus 184. No team score – Sigourney

Columbus (103 total runners) – 40. Van Iang 26:32.7; 65. Averi Sipes 29:37.0; 73. Esther Lian 31:01.0; 100. Julie Sosa 38:45.6; 101. Martha Garcia 38:57.6.