IMS' Miller picks up his first career win

IMS senior Cody Miller won the final regular-season cross-country meet of his career at Thursday night?s Lake Darling Classic in Fairfield.

Miller, who crossed the finish line first in 17:02, picked up his first career win in a high school meet. It also marked the first time an IMS runner had won a meet since Bill Spencer won the state meet in 2010.

?Cody has been improving steadily all season,? IMS head coach Marty Gingerich said. ?He ran an evenly paced race. Cody gained the lead about midway through the race and never looked back.?

Sophomore Kirby Shetler crossed the finish line 30 seconds after Miller in third place. Sophomore Jacob Valov came in 20

^th

in 19:49, and freshman Jacob Schmieder was 24

^th

in 20:06. Sophomore Kobi Russom finished 43

^rd

in 23:36, and sophomore Rex Yoder was 45

^th

in 25:01. IMS took fourth place out of six teams at the meet.

The IMS girls edged out Lone Tree by one point to finish second behind fifth-ranked Pekin at Thursday?s meet. It marked the highest an IMS girls? team has placed since the English Valleys Invitational in 2009. The top three IMS runners ran their second mile faster than their first, enabling them to pass many of their competitors in the middle of the race.

Sophomore Renee Buckwalter took fourth place in 16:32 to lead IMS, and sophomore Riley Schmieder came in sixth in a personal-best time of 17:08. Senior Camila Segar finished 26

^th

in a season-best time of 20:01. Junior Alvard Mamikonyan came in 32

^nd

in 22:31, and freshman Summer Schrock was 34

^th

in a personal-best time of 23:02. Junior Vesna Zunic finished 37

^th

in a personal-best time of 23:40.

The IMS cross-country teams will compete in the Class 1A state qualifying meet at Wildwood Park in Ottumwa next Thursday.