Ryon, Horak run to win

WASHINGTON -- On a hot and humid evening Tuesday, the boys team race at the cross-country meet at Washington Golf Club ended up about as close as possible.

Ft. Madison won with 52 points while Fairfield and Washington both had 53. Mt. Pleasant was fourth, followed by sigourney, then Highland. Washington's Evan Horak was the victor.

In the girls race, Mt. Pleasant's Abby Ryon treated it as a training exercise and still won, finishing in 21 minutes, 23.76 seconds as did the Panthers with 22. Ft. Madison was second, then Fairfield, Washington, Highland and Sigourney in that order.

Ryon raced Saturday at Wartburg College, where she finished seventh among almost 200 runners.

'We had a goal this meet that I was to lead the team out in seven-minute miles,” she said. 'It was a good time to bond with the team and help pull them along. Running with my teammates, I thought it was special. It was good practice for picking it up in that last mile and kicking at the end.”

Ryon teammate Abby Blint was second at 22:12.8 and Highland's Madison Thomann was third at 22:36.7.

'My goal was to get out in front early, but I think I went a little too fast,” Thomann said. 'It seemed like I wore myself out. When I'm running hills, it gives me something to work for to try to get to the top. It feels good to head down the hill. It's like getting a break.”

Horak finished with a time of 18:00.2 and saw teammate Lance Sobaski (18:38.07) take fourth. Fairfield's Alex Forrest was third (18:31.02) and teammate Bryan Wilkins (19:03.85) was sixth.

”I don't have a goal for a race because I just go out and try to keep up with someone who is faster than me,” Forrest said. 'That makes me faster.”

'I based my pace off of what he does,” Wilkins said. 'He finished in front of me because of the hills. They are not as big here, but there are quite a few inclines.”

Horak learned from last year's race to take it easy over the weekend so that his legs would be fresh.

'I had Lance with me to push me in the first half of the race and that helped,” Horak said. 'Having the guys from fellow conference teams running with me really pushes me. We even talked a little and I let out a few laughs as well. We are improving as we go but we have to keep pushing if we want the conference title.”

Washington coach Stefanie Haworth liked seeing a Demon senior excel.

'For Evan to win his home meet is a great thing. Evan has worked so hard these past four years so it's great seeing that hard work pay off. Evan's leadership has been great this season and I really think it has helped our team get stronger every meet. Lance continues to run strong, and Justin Simmering and Elijah Morris have really moved up to help our team. Justin had his best race of the season, he finally opened up and showed everyone what we have been seeing in practice all season.”

Haworth said the girls are missing No. 3 runner Tori Hinson and No. 5 Josie Tanner struggled after donating blood Monday.

'I'm hoping to have a healthy team by the conference meet. Grace Voss had another solid race, she was once again our No. 1 runner. Her sister Abby got out great and really pushed Grace that first mile. It's always fun to see siblings running together. Abby has improved so much this season. I'm not too concerned with the girls team standings.”