Coach, teammates bear down for win

FORT DODGE - Stress for a cross-country team could involve injuries, sickness, COVID-19 and quarantines because of it. Stress for the coach would involve resulting decisions from the aforementioned problems.

While Mid-Prairie's designs on a title faded to a finish of sixth with Jamison Stutzman being knocked to the ground, the top-ranked Danville-New London boys team benefited from Coach Lucas Gourley's decision.

The Bears took the Class 2A title Saturday at Lakeside Golf Course behind the tandem of Ty Carr and Alexander Julian, who finished almost simultaneously in second and third.

'I know without him I wouldn't have pushed past that point around the 2-mile mark,” Carr said. 'I wouldn't have been able to do it without him or any of these other guys or coaches.”

Senior Gabriel Gourley was listed as one of the seven runners on the Danville-New London pre-meet participant list. Sophomore A.J. Bonneson ran in place of Gourley following the coach's hard choice to sit his own son in place of a runner who had missed consecutive meets. Bonneson finished ahead of the Bears' 23rd-ranked Oliver Sowell. His finish at 23 earned 16 points. Bonneson placed 16th to earn 13, and Seth Bailey added 30 to the team score with a finish of 47. The combination created the 22-point victory over defending champion Tipton, which won last year with 83 points when Danville-New London was sixth with 183.

'The stress has been tremendous,” Coach Gorley said. 'I had to make the tough decision ... and that's as hard as it gets.”

Since Bonneson hadn't run recently, the Bears had the advantage of nobody expecting him to produce.

'He deserves a lot of praise for what he did,” the coach said. 'Ty and Ander ran a really, really smart race.”

Tipton's Caleb Schumaker won the race by pushing the pace early. The Bears duo knew they couldn't follow so they worked off one another. The goal was never about an individual.

'It was about the team,” Gourley said.

Stutzman had no choice of how his run developed.

'A little bit past the mile mark,” Mid-Prairie's Stutzman said, 'the guy behind me knocked me over.”

With their top guy down, Mid-Prairie coach Mark Hostetler 'could tell that they were fairly discouraged. Chandler Herschberger and Nathan Wallington moved up, but it seems like they had too much pressure on them. Maybe it was by me. They seemed stressed that they weren't where we thought they needed to be. Lucas Bontrager just ran his heart out.”

TEAM SCORES - 1. Danville-New London 64, 2. Tipton 86, 3. Des Moines Christian 95, 4. Western Christian 105, 5. Davis County 137, 6. Mid-Prairie - 177, 7. Williamsburg 189, 8. Denver 224, 9. Central Decatur 239, 10. Waukon 242, 11. Unity Christian 289, 12. GrundyCenter/Gladbrook-Reinbeck 301, 13. GLR-Central Lyon 305, 14. Albia 317, 15. North Fayette Valley 339.

D-NL - 2. Ty Carr 16:50, 3. Alexander Julian 16:50, 16. A.J. Bonnesen 17:27, 16. Oliver Sowell, 17:47.9, 30. Seth Bailey 18:14.8, 42. Mason Chipman 18:26.8, 46. Rylan Martin 18:30.2

Mid-Prairie - 20. Jamison Stutzman 18:02.4, 25. Lucas Bontrager 18:10.9, 39. Nathan Wallington 18:24.9, 41. Chandler Hershberger 18:25.3, 52. Thaddeus Shetler 18:38.4, 72. Mose Yoder 19:18.4, 102. Daniel Rodgers 20:36.7