Columbus wins boys meet at L-M

The Columbus boys cross-country team won the Langwood Invitational hosted by Louisa-Muscatine Tuesday.

The Wildcats scored 32 points to outdistance runner-up Wilton by 12 points. The hosts were third with 59 and Central Lee had 94.

'This was a great night for our boys,” said coach Steve Riley. 'The strength of this team is going to be the pack, and we had seven kids run within about 2 minutes of each other.”

Isaac Acosta was Columbus' top runner with second place in 18 minutes, 10 seconds, followed by Mason Hills-Carrier (fourth, 18:32), Damian Vergara (seventh, 19:16) and Tim Hills-Carrier (eighth, 19:18), and Alex Rivas was the fifth scorer with 11th place in 19:52.

Riley said Hills-Carrier ran the race of his life. 'With Mason, it's getting him to believe he can do it all the time,” he said. 'I'm very proud of him.”

The Columbus girls didn't have a full team. Kimberly Gonzalez was 11th in 27:43, Averi Sipes 15th in 28:41, Alexa Alcala 16th in 31:39, and Julie Sosa 17th in 33:25.

Riley said the girls had great nights. 'Kimmy beat her goal by more than 5 minutes,” he said. 'And they all ran great. Alexa was a little hobbled after rolling an ankle on the course, but she's fine.”

Panthers sweep boys, girls titles

At Albia, the Pekin boys and girls teams ran to victories.

Pekin's girls scored 18 to Albia's 78, Knoxville's 85 and Wayne's 120.

Lauren Derscheid's winning time was 21:25, followed by second-place teammate Lauren Steigleder in 21:44. Fourth was Sarah Eubanks (22:07), then fifth Lily Fariss (22:31) and sixth Audrey Fariss (22:54).

Van Buren County's Faith Neely was seventh in 22:59.

Pekin's boys had 29 points, followed by Albia's 53, Wayne at 83, Knoxville 85 and Moravia 132.

First place in 16:54 was Brady Millikin of Pekin. Second was 17:47 by Zach Wise of Pekin. Teammate Isaac Gentry was fifth in 18:21. Ninth place was 19:06 by Jaedon Wolver and 12th was 19:38 by Gavyn Brown.

Ian Peacock of Van Buren was eighth in 19:05.

Mid-Prairie now 4-0

The Golden Hawks won their volleyball match at Durant 25-16, 25-13, 25-20 to move their record to 4-0.

Tori Boyse connected on seven kills while Landry Pacha had 18 assists. Maddie Edgington had 15 digs. Boyse and Paige Peiffer each served four aces.

Mid-Prairie hosts West Branch tonight.

Pekin wins at home

The Panthers won the nonconference home match 3-1. The Panthers rallied from a 25-20 loss in the first set to sweep the next three, 25-22, 25-23, 25-15.

Allison Bainbridge led Pekin with eight kills. Erika Coleman had 13 assists. Emma Phillips had three blocks and Taylor Gambell had seven digs. Pekin had 17 aces in the match.

Pekin is 3-3 and plays tonight at Winfield-Mount Union.