Washington sweeps Mt. Pleasant cross-country invite

MT. PLEASANT — A banner year for the Washington cross-country program continued Tuesday as the Demons swept the large school standings at Mt. Pleasant’s home invitational.

Led by a first-place finish from Lance Sobaski, the Demon boys took first place by nine points over Oskaloosa. The girls rolled to a 29-point victory.

Sobaski had his hands full with Oskaloosa’s Patrick DeRonde, who led throughout a good portion of the race, but the Demons’ top runner had too much in his tank at the end of the race.

“I just created space,” Sobaski said. “I felt pretty good, so I was like, 'I can hang back and make my move when I make my move.'”

Following Sobaski and DeRonde was Washington’s Micah Rees, who took third place, giving the Demon boys a big boost in the overall standings.

“This year it has been really cool to see myself and the whole team just step it up,” Rees said. “And consistently beat these teams that are right around us.”

The Demon girls had eight of the Top-20 runners in the large school girls race. Quincy Griffis led the way with a fourth-place finish.

Individually, however, it was Mt. Pleasant’s Abby Blint who won her own home race. Blint separated from the front pack down the back stretch to cross the line first.

Blint and the Panther girls took fifth, six points behind third-place Fairfield and three behind third-place Fort Madison. Mt. Pleasant’s girls’ team had all six varsity runners competing, compared to just three last week.

“We’re small but mighty,” Blint said. “We’ve got to try our best to power through.”

Columbus placed three runners in the Top-4 to win the small school boys’ competition. Mediapolis outlasted Columbus in the girls’ race.

BOYS LARGE CLASS TEAM SCORES: 1. Washington 50; 2. Oskaloosa 59; 3. Fairfield 71; 4. Fort Madison 74; 5. Mt. Pleasant 77; 6. Keokuk 180.

BOYS SMALL CLASS TEAM SCORES: 1. Columbus 37; 2. Mediapolis 84; 3. Central Lee 97; 4. Holy Trinity 100; 5. Louisa-Muscatine 109; 6. Winfield-Mount Union 110; 7. WACO 130.

BOYS LARGE CLASS TOP 5: 1. Lance Sobaski (Washington) 16:25.72; 2. Patrick DeRonde (Oskaloosa) 16:46.44; 3. Micah Rees (17:08.75); 4. Gavin Van Veen (Fairfield) 18:01.66; 5. Hayden Wolfe (Fort Madison) 18:03.50.

BOYS SMALL SCHOOL TOP 5: 1. Solomon Zaugg (Mediapolis) 17:29.62; 2. Freddy Vergara (Columbus) 17:31.09; 3. Jeff Campbell (Mediapolis) 18:30.47; 4. Isaac Acosta (Columbus) 18:33.75; 5. Owen Schmidgall (Mediapolis) 18:35.38.

GIRLS LARGE CLASS TEAM SCORES: 1. Washington 39; 2. Oskaloosa 68; 3. Fairfield 69; 4. Mt. Pleasant 83; 5. Fort Madison 93.

GIRLS SMALL CLASS TEAM SCORES: 1. Mediapolis 37; 2. Columbus 41; 3. Wilton 42.

GIRLS LARGE CLASS TOP 5: 1. Abby Blint (Mt. Pleasant) 20:51.96; 2. Sage Adam (Oskaloosa) 20:59.54; 3. Paetyn Wiegand (Fort Madison) 21:06.66; 4. Quincy Griffis (Washington) 21:09.93; 5. Kelsey Pacha (Fairfield) 21:35.90.

GIRLS SMALL CLASS TOP 5: 1. Charlotte Brown (Wilton) 21:31.71; 2. Brooklyn Moehle (Mediapolis) 22:11.50; 3. SeAnn Houghton (23:18.06); 4. Ariana Vergara (Columbus) 23:40.91; 5. Quinn Yotter (Columbus) 24:24.84.