Demon runners take top-4 finishes

In their second meet of the week, the Washington boys? and girls? cross-country teams posted strong showings on Thursday night.

The Demons went to Ottumwa  for their second meet of the season, and showed they will be competitive throughout the year, running neck and neck with their conference foe Fairfield at the meet.

The Washington boys? team picked up a third-place finish at the Pekin-hosted meet, finishing behind the host Panthers and Ottumwa, while beating the fourth-place Trojans by 60 points.

The girls? team had similar success, placing fourth at the meet as a team, but falling to Fairfield by three points.

?It was a great meet for us last night,? Washington cross-country head coach Stefanie Tschantz said. ?I thought everyone really stepped up and ran hard. It definitely helped having run one meet already; we were able to get comfortable a little sooner and push the pace a little longer. They knew what to expect and I think they were all pleasantly surprised that times were so much faster.?

The boys? meet was highlighted by the top five runners for the Demons finishing under the 20-minute mark, led by junior Brennan Horak, who took eighth place with a 17:54, a personal best.

?Brennan had an outstanding meet; it was a huge PR for him breaking that 18-minute mark,? Tschantz said. ?He has been going out a lot harder at the beginning of races this year and that has worked very well for him.?

Brennan?s eighth-place finish was followed by a pair of Demons who finished in 12th and 13th place, with Owen Horak finishing with a time of 18:19 and Evan Horak taking a time of 18:20.

?Evan had a huge breakthrough meet,? Tschantz said. ?He was our fourth finisher on the boys? team on Tuesday and for him to finish so close to Owen last night was wonderful. He also got out a little harder that first mile than he did on Tuesday, and just continued to push the pace.?

The Demons? counting scores were rounded out by Jacob Van Osdol, who took 21st with an 18:41, and Kyle Anderson, who notched a 19:47 for a 47th-place finish.

Ben Loy took 54th with a 20:20, while Kiowa Keith placed 69th (20:53), Matthew Collett finished in 90th (22:01), Blake Hartzler finished in 91st (22:16) and Ben Scheifer took 108th (24:13).

On the girls? side of the meet, Claire Horak led the charge again for the Demons, running a 20:26 to take seventh place at her second varsity meet.

?Claire had a great race, she had a great start and continued to pull in the leaders,? Tschantz said. ?She has so much potential and is really going to surprise people, she is such a strong runner.?

Molly Sparks claimed a strong race, picking up a 22:15 to take 18th overall, while Brooke Stout ran a 22:18 for 21st.

Meredith Raber finished in 25th with a 22:26, while Maggie Voss rounded out the counting scores with a 29th-place finish, posting a time of 22:43.

?We had a nice tight group of four girls all finishing within 30 seconds of each other,? Tschantz said. ?They all ran great. It definitely helps when they are able to run together as nobody wants to fall off the pace, and they push each other. Almost everyone ran two minutes faster than we did last year at Ottumwa.?

Halle Leyden took 42nd in the varsity race (23:55) followed by Ashley Telleen?s 44th-place finish (24:05), while Peyton Cuddeback finished in 49th (24:24), Lexi Redlinger took 71st (26:01) and Cierra Miller took 81st (27:21).

?I am extremely proud of the team effort we saw,? Tschantz said. ?We had a nice solid pack run close together on both the boys? and girls? side, which is key in the team standings. I expect that we will continue to improve as the season goes on; the sky is the limit for these kids. I don?t think they even know what they are capable of. I think we might surprise a few people this year.?

In the junior varsity races, the Demons? night was highlighted by Abby Voss taking a fifth-place finish in the girls? race, with Lupita De La Rosa finishing in 12th, while Michael Kimball was the top finisher on the JV boys? squad with a 24:03.

In the middle school event, the Washington girls? team blew away the competition, with four top-10 finishes, led by Kelsey Pacha?s second-place finish.

Greta Rothe took third, while Kellie Dallmeyer finished in eighth, Alivia Emry took ninth and Sydney Cuddeback finished just outside the top 10 with an 11th-place finish.

The middle school boys? team was led by Lance Sobaski, who took fifth place.

The Washington cross-country teams will be back in action next week, when they travel to Fairfield on Thursday.