Top-ranked Panthers impressive in Iowa City

IOWA CITY ? The defending state champion Pekin girls? cross country team didn?t disappoint in its tuneup for the postseason at the Bud Williams Invitational Thursday.

Pekin scored 55 points and finished second, only behind host school Iowa City High?s 20. Ottumwa was third with 72 points.

Celsey Conger won the race, finishing 16 seconds ahead of the second-place runner with a clocking of 14:57. It was her fourth individual win of the season and her third in the last four races.

?Celsey really started off strong,? said Pekin head coach Davis Eidahl. ?A City High girl passed her at the mile mark, but you don?t do that. That ticked her off, and she took off from there.?

Behind Conger was sister Brenna in 10th (16:03), while Samantha Wright closed the gap considerably in the No. 3 spot to take 17th (16:49).

Maleaha Earnest (19th, 16:52) and Brandy Millikin (25th, 17:13) also scored for the No. 1-ranked team.

?It?s nice for our girls to run against some big schools,? said Eidahl. ?Last night, I think all of them competed as hard as they have all year. It was a good confidence builder, that?s the big thing.?

On the boys? side, Pekin finished fifth in the predominately 4A field with 145 points. Iowa City High won with 20 points.

As expected, Cade Millikin was the leader of the Panthers with a 27th-place finish in 18:46. The seven additional Pekin runners squeezed into the top 51.

Pekin?s junior high girls? cross country team turned in another solid team socre, showing the high school level probably won?t have to worry about rebuilding years anytime soon. The girls won the junior high race with just 28 points to beat second place Cedar Rapids Harding?s 82.

Much like varsity counterpart Conger did in her race, Pekin?s Gwynne Wright ran away from the competition in the 1.5-mile junior high race. Wright ran a time of 11:39, beating the second-place finisher, Meredith Koeningsfeld of Cedar Rapids Roosevelt, by one minute 35 seconds.

Also in the top 10 for Pekin, Sloan Reighard finished fourth (13:22), Nikole Arendt was seventh (13:58) and Taylor Lock was ninth (14:10). Taylor Reynolds just missed the top 10 with an 11th-place finish (14:22), while Payton Lock and Kaylee Linder were 13th and 16th, respectively.

In the junior high boys? race, Austin Fariss also took first, solidifying a great individual meet for the Panthers with three wins in four races.

The postseason, and Pekin?s pursuit of another Class 1A title, officially begins next Thursday with the SEISC conference meet at Van Buren.

Team Standings ? Girls

1. Iowa City High 20

2. Pekin 55

3. Ottumwa 72

4. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 103

Team Standings ? Boys

1. Iowa City High 20

2. Southeast Polk 60

3. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 74

4. Ottumwa 82

5. Pekin 145

6. IMS --

Individual Results

Pekin Girls

1. Celsey Conger (14:54), 10. Brenna Conger (16:03), 17. Samantha Wright (16:49), 19. Maleaha Earnest (16:52), 25. Brandy Millikin (17:13), 29. McKenna Gambell (17:59), 30. Monica Cooley (18:10), 33. Gabbi Earnest (18:44)

JV ? 22. Hannah Robison (19:00), 28. Becky Phillips (19:09), 50. Rachel Wonderlich (20:37), 55. Mickey Reynolds (20:59), 56. Ashley Bollinger (21:01), 61. Amanda Deustschle (21:26),63. Shelby Frank (21:50), 69. Jerica Allman (22:11), 77. Chelsea Richey (23:10)

Pekin Boys

27. Cade Millikin (18:46), 41. Colton Dunning (19:47), 44. Aaron King (20:04), 45. Tim Murray (20:07), 47. Chase Earnest (20:22), 49. Clayton Essary (20:37), 50. Stratton Bond (20:46), 51. Philip Reese (20:54)

JV ? 55. Sam Matthewman (21:37), 90. Christian Little (23:52), 91. Joey House (23:56)

Middle School Results

Pekin Girls

1. Gwynne Wright (11:39), 4. Sloan Reighard (13:22), 7. Nikole Arendt (13:58), 9. Taylor Lock (14:10), 11. Taylor Reynolds (14:22), 13. Payton Lock (14:25), 16. Kaylee Linder (14:34), 26. Tayler Winn (15:05), 30. Devin Dailey (15:07), 38. Madison Fears (15:46), 39. Bonnie Becker (15:50), 68. Cheyenne Deutschle (17:55)

Pekin Boys

1. Austin Fariss (11:15), 71. Joel Swanson (15:53), 78. Cameron Little (16:15), 105. Dillon Richey (21:10)