Columbus boys 2nd, girls 3rd at Winfield-Mount Union cross-country race

WINFIELD — The Columbus boys cross-country team finished second and the girls third Thursday night.

Gabe Hemworth led the host Winfield-Mount Union Wolves with his eighth-place finish in 19 minutes, 42 seconds.

“I got my PR a few meets ago, which is 18:36. The meet before that I got 18:59 and I won that one,” Hemsworth said. “I’m happy the team is doing well. No one has really gotten hurt. I love the people coming out to cheer everyone on. That’s nice.”

Freddy Vergara’s third place led five Columbus Wildcats finishers in the top 15 runners with Isaac Acosta fifth, Mason Hills-Carrier ninth, Tim Hills-Carrier 11th, and Damian Vergara 15th.

“That was probably one of my worst races,” Vergara said. “It didn’t go the way I planned, but you just have to overcome it. I want to go back to state as a team. It’s a good thing to go individually, but I want to see our whole team go up there to Fort Dodge.”

Burlington won the boys team race. “I think this is the kind of meet that we don’t win, but it still makes us better,” Wildcats coach Steve Riley said.

Freshman Ariana Vergara’s 11th-place effort led the Wildcat girls, who finished behind 2020 state qualifier Montezuma and Mediapolis. The girls were running without one of their top five athletes, Quinn Yotter, who is injured.

“The course was harder than I expected. I think I could have done better from what my other races were,” Ariana Vergara said. “It’s good that I have cousins and siblings who are runners. If it wasn’t for my brother, Damien, I wouldn’t be doing this. I think there will be bigger things for us to come.”

“I was really happy with the boys because they were very strong in tough conditions,” Riley said. “It was 86 degrees when they ran, absurd for Sept. 30. The times look slow, but this course was about two-tenths of a mile long.”

BOYS TEAM SCORES

1. Burlington 40; 2. Columbus 45; 3. Mediapolis 93; 4. Winfield-Mount Union 123; 5. Central Lee 140; 6. Louisa-Muscatine 142; 7. Montezuma 142; 8. WACO 193; 9. Holy Trinity 195

Columbus — 3. Freddy Vergara 18:19.37; 5. Isaac Acosta 19:00.78; 9. Mason Hills-Carrier 19:47.02; 12. Tim Hills-Carrier 20:11.48; 16. Damian Vergara 20:55.74; 43. Oscar Alcala 23:23.49.

WACO — 25. Isaac Rich 21:41.67; 31. Keiran Luitjens 22:27.25; 52. Jonah Egli 24:15.67; 68. Deacon Bird 33:19.56

Winfield-Mount Union — 8. Gabe Hemsworth 19:42.44; 17. Kohlby Newsom, 21:00.89; 28. Lane Scorpil 21:53.45; 38. Jeff Maish 22:52.45; 39. Sheadon Adams 23:00.85; 57. Ty Scorpil 24:26.02; 62. Jacob Haines 26:04.12

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

1. Montezuma 18; 2. Mediapolis 49; 3. Columbus 62.

Columbus — 11. Ariana Vergara 26:05.15; 19. Kimberly Gonzalez 27:51.42; 21. Averi Sipes 28:04.06; 23. Frannie Sosa 28:22.42; 38. Alexa Alcala 34:16.70.

WACO — 15. Justine Lynn 26:57.08; 25. Hannah Dennis 28:56.66; 26. McKenzie Vradenburg 28:59.66; 27. Avery Waterhouse 29:00.35.

Winfield-Mount Union — 31. Maggie Hutton 30:00.86; 35. Olivia Martinez 31:23.82.

Pekin, Hillcrest, D/NL run at Iowa City

IOWA CITY — Three area cross-country teams competed in challenging conditions Thursday when Iowa City City High hosted the Bud Williams Invitational at the Iowa City Kickers Soccer Complex.

The field had a number of large schools as well as smaller schools with strong teams. Danville/New London’s Ty Carr placed second, 30 seconds behind Ford Washburn of City High. Washburn ran a 16:31 time to win for the second year in a row and his team won.

The Pekin girls placed sixth and Danville-New London seventh. Hillcrest’s Leah Bontrager was 42nd in 23:29. Dubuque Senior won the team title. Gabrielle Cortez of Cedar Rapids Prairie was the individual winner finishing in 19:29

Monday Oct. 4, Hillcrest Academy hosts its invitational on the school campus and in the Joetown woods. The meet features thirteen boys and girls high school teams. The meet starts at 4 p.m.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

1. Dubuque Senior 44, 2. Ankeny Centennial50, 3. Cedar Rapids Prairie 54, 4. Iowa City High64, 5. Clear Creek-Amana 142, 6. Pekin 170, 7. Danville-New London 221, 8. Ottumwa 228, 9. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 258

Pekin — 22. Lauren Derscheid 21:37, 35. Lauren Steigleder 22:52, 48. Audrey Fariss 23:46, 49. Sarah Eubanks 23:47, 53. Mia Clark 24:00,

Danville/New London — 54. Cassidy Yaley 24:09, 59. Kenzie Logan 24:26, 60.Kamryn Sherwood 24:28, 47. Carissa Mackey 23:45, 75. Abby Arnett 26:27

Hillcrest — 42. Leah Bontrager 23:29, 88. Morgyn Nafziger 29:55, 89. Delaney Shaw 30:01, 91. Julia Boller 31:26

BOYS TEAM SCORES

1. Iowa City High 36, 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 49, 3. Ankeny Centennial 85, 4. Danville-New London 113, 5. Clear Creek-Amana 141, 6. Dubuque Senior 175, 7. Pleasant Valley 199, 8. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 221, 9. Iowa City Liberty 230, 10. Ottumwa 262, 11. Pekin 288

Danville/New London — 2. Ty Carr 17:01, 20. Seth Bailey 18:16, 25. AJ Bonnesen 18:28, 28. Alexander Julian 18:43, 55. Talan Whaley 19:45

Pekin — 17. Zack Wise 18:06, 71. Ben Guise 20:21, 91. Robert Brown 23:33, 93. J.T. Spray 24:13, 94. Gavyn Brown 24:29

Hillcrest — 86. Collin Miller 22:10, 98. Quang Huynh 29:05, 99. Garrett Hurst 29:06, 100. Isaac Lybeck 30:23

Cardinal runs at Chariton

CHARITON — Gavin Grove finished in the top 10 for Cardinal and the Comets were sixth as a team in the girls race.

Cardinal Results Girls — 32. Aracelili Tapetillo 24:59, 37. Lauren Sloan 25:49, 40. Caitlyn Reber 25:58, 41. Ava Ferrell25:58, 52. Ashlyn Patrick 27:07

Boys — 9. Gavin Grove 19:02, 32. Karson Kirkpatrick 20:55, 105. Kyran Spees 27:11