May, Panther cross-country finish in top three

WILLIAMSBURG ? The Mt. Pleasant boys? cross-country team placed third out of nine teams at the Williamsburg Raider Invitational last night, Aug. 30, but will need to close gaps between their runners to become a top-place finisher this season.

Senior Zach May finished first for the Panthers and third overall with a time of 17:17 in the 3.1-mile race.

?He ran an aggressive, strong race,? Coach Mitch Anderson said.

Senior Caleb Zimmerman finished second for the Panthers and 12th overall with a time of 18:43, nearly a minute and a half behind May, and junior Tommy Thorne crossed the line nine seconds and three places later.

Kolby Raymond, a freshman, came in with a time of 19:26, good enough to be the Panthers? fourth runner, and he was followed by senior Ethan Conrad, who finished in 19:41 to complete varsity scoring. Senior Nate Smith and junior Drew Perry also ran varsity for the Panthers.

?Our focus in the next few meets will be to narrow the gap,? Anderson said, referring in particular to the stretch between his first runner and the rest of the pack.

The team totaled 91 points, which landed them in the top third of the competing teams.

?We beat six and lost to two,? Anderson said. ?And there were some pretty good teams there.?

Mid-Prairie won the boys? side of the meet, totaling only 46 points.

?That wasn?t a big surprise,? Anderson said. ?They?re usually one of the stronger teams in that class in this area.?

Finishing with 52 points for second place was Vinton-Shellsburg.

Behind the Panthers was host team Williamsburg with 108 points, and then Benton with 114 for fifth place. Benton finished ahead of the Panthers in the district meet last year.

Clear Creek-Amana took sixth with 121 points, followed by North Cedar with 190. Crossing the 200 mark was H-L-V with 221 points, and Sigorney finished last in the standings with a team total of 236.

For the Panthers? JV team, junior Drake Martin took second overall with a time of 19:31, good enough to secure a varsity spot in the next race. Senior Caleb Johnson was fifth in the JV race, finishing in 20:09, missing a chance to run varsity by only seven seconds.