Pekin girls, Danville-New London boys win SEISC cross-country titles

WINFIELD — Winfield-Mount Union hosted the 2022 Southeast Iowa Super Conference cross-country championship on Thursday and two area teams that have made a habit of dominating this season stuck to their winning ways, as the Pekin girls and Danville-New London boys struck gold.

Pekin’s girls’ team, led by standout freshman Chloe Glosser scored 25 points to beat the second-place D-NL girls by 41. Glosser raced toward the SEISC title, winning it in just her freshman year.

“I just had to keep pushing,” Glosser said. “I kept trying to stay positive. If you run quicker, then you'll finish sooner.”

Glosser crossed the tape in 20 minutes, 20.4 seconds, just ahead of second-place Alaina Gourley, another freshman, from D-NL. Pekin’s Lauren Steigleder finished third, in 21:04.2.

As a team, the Panthers put five runners in the Top-10. Brooke Miller placed sixth. Audrey Fariss took seventh, and Brooke Sylvester crossed in 10th.

“It means a lot to us,” Glosser said. “We all give 110 percent effort, and we just push ourselves to be the best that we can.”

The only other area Top-10 girls runner was Rylee Phillips of Van Buren County. Phillips crossed the tape in ninth.

Gourley and fifth-place Kamryn Sherwood helped the D-NL girls skate to an easy second-place finish. Columbus took sixth place with a score of 145, and WMU was seventh, with a total of 175.

Despite a tough push from Mediapolis, D-NL cruised to a team championship, anchored by star duo AJ Bonnesen and Rylan Martin, who continued to anchor the Bears to victory.

Bonnesen finished the race in 17:05.9 for second place, finishing behind SEISC champion Solomon Zaugg of Mediapolis. Martin edged Mediapolis’ Owen Schmidgall at the line for third, in 17:15.1.

“Mepo was kind of who we were looking at. We know that they have some really good guys especially up top,” said Martin after the race. “One-through-three we know they kind of hang with us, but we just have such good depth. That's where we really destroy teams.”

D-NL had two more runners in the Top-8, as Carter Fesler took seventh place and Jackson Shacklett placed eighth. The last scorer for the D-NL boys was Cuay Garrett, who took 15th.

Other area Top-10 finishes went to ninth-place Lincoln Bainbridge of Van Buren County, and 10th-place Kolby Newsom of WMU. Columbus’ Damian Vergara just missed the Top-10 with an 11th-place finish.

As a team, Columbus took third, with 104 points. WMU wasn’t too far behind, taking fourth, at 111. WACO finished seventh, with 191 points. Pekin scored 199 for third. Van Buren County finished in 10th, with 242, and Highland scored 333 for 12th.

GIRLS’ TEAM RESULTS

1. Pekin 25

2. Danville-New London 56

3. Notre Dame-West Burlington 83

4. Mediapolis 95

5. Louisa-Muscatine 138

6. Columbus 145

7. Winfield-Mount Union 175

GIRLS’ TOP-10

1. Chloe Glosser (9) Pekin 20:12.4

2. Alaina Gourley (9) Danville-New London 20:40.4

3. Lauren Steigleder (11) Pekin 21:04.2

4. Hannah Fruehling (10) Notre Dame-West Burlington 22:08.4

5. Kamryn Sherwood (11) Danville-New London 22:14.4

6. Brooke Miller (12) Pekin 22:34.9

7. Audrey Fariss (11) Pekin 22:44.4

8. Vivian ZAARUBA (10) Lone Tree 23:00.8

9. Rylee Phillips (9) Van Buren County 23:15.9

10. Brooke Sylvester (10) Pekin 23:22

BOYS’ TEAM RESULTS

1. Danville-New London 35

2. Mediapolis 53

3. Columbus 104

4. Winfield-Mount Union 111

5. Louisa-Muscatine 149

6. Notre Dame-West Burlington 71

7. WACO 191

8. Central Lee 192

9. Pekin 199

10. Van Buren County 242

11. Wapello 274

12. Highland 333

TOP-10 BOYS

1. Solomon Zaugg (11) Mediapolis 16:56.2

2. AJ Bonnesen (12) Danville-New London 17:05.9

3. Rylan Martin (12) Danville-New London 17:15.1

4. Owen Schmidgall (11) Mediapolis 17:15.4

5. Brady McWhirter (10) Pekin 17:36.7

6. Jeff Campbell (12) Mediapolis 17:48.3

7. Carter Fesler (11) Danvillle-New London 17:57.0

8. Jackson Shacklett (10) Danville-New London 18:09.3

9. Lincoln Bainbridge (9) Van Buren County 18:15.5.

10. Kohlby Newsom (10) Winfield-Mount Union 18:16.9