Cross-country roundup: Pekin boys finish second

Another week down, which means another week of Iowa high school cross-country is complete.

Union area small teams were busy last Thursday as a handful of squads competed on Thursday.

While there were no winners on the day, there were still some very nice showings by the area athletes.

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2023 Burlington XC Invitational

Van Buren County and Hillcrest Academy both competed in the competition.

The Van Buren County boys took third with 58 points, while Hillcrest Academy finished fourth with 107.

Lincoln Bainbridge led the Warriors with a third-place finished after running, 17:18.

Gavin Noll finished seventh with a time of 18:15 and Landry Loeffler took ninth in 18:54. Kayden Farris finished 19th, Blaine Benjamin 20th and Jackson Meek 21st.

For Hillcrest, Jesse Blossom took 13th, Isaac Beachy was 22nd, Jeremiah Danker 23rd, Micah Gerber 24th and Braden Hartsock 25th.

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On the girls’ side, Hillcrest’s Marie Yoder took second. Rya Scott finished 12th, Delaney Shaw was 33rd and Brynna O’Rourke was 36th.

Van Buren County’s Kayley Snowgren was the highest placer in fourth. Rylee Philips followed in fifth and Rylie Baker took 40th.

Moravia Mohawk Cross Country Meet

The Cardinal boys and girls along with the Pekin boys competed in Moravia on Thursday.

Pekin ran its way to a second-place finish with Brady McWhirter leading the way.

The Panthers finished with 41 points. The Cardinal boys followed in third with 104.

McWhirter ran to a second overall finish after posting a time of 17:57.96. JaeDon Wolver placed sixth in 19:11.27. Mason Dahlstrom ran 19:38.39 for eighth.

Cole Millikin was 11th, Lane Fariss took 18th, Dylan Sobaski finished 19th, Conor Cloyd was 28th and Clayton Harvey finished 46th.

For Cardinal, Christian Vass led with a 14th place finish. Kyran Spees was 23rd. Mark Chichizola placed 26th. Alijah Frase, Cayden Courtney, Dane Johnson, Parker Shepherd and Bradley Robinson went 31-35. Quentin Bruett finished 53rd.

On the Cardinal girls’ side, Alexis Bissell was a seventh-place finisher in 28:51.10. Makenzi Strasko followed in eighth with a time of 29:38.12 and Ajaah Cox finished 15th.