Comet returning state qualifiers medal at ‘Early Bird’ XC meet
Press photo by John Burbridge Charles City senior Harper McInroy attacks one of the hills along the Wildwood Golf Course’s 5K course during Thursday’s season-opening XC meet. McInroy was the top placer for the Comet girls.
By John Burbridge
sports@charlescitypress.com
CHARLES CITY — Going into the final mile of the Boys 5K during Thursday’s season-opening cross country meet at Wildwood Golf Course, it became a three-way race for second place.
Waterloo West sophomore Presley Berns had widened the gap from the trio consisting of Waverly-Shell Rock senior Caleb Hoins and Charles City sophomores Xander Graeser and Nick Williams.
The Go-Hawk and Comet runners were both state qualifiers last season. For most of the race, Hoins was ahead of Graeser and Williams. But with about a half-mile to go, Graeser took over the second spot — and though he didn’t really threaten Berns for the lead, he at least made him pick up the pace to keep the Comet in the rearview mirror.
Berns’s winning time was 17 minutes, 12.35 seconds.
Graeser placed second (17:20.86) ahead Hoins (17:22.76) and Williams (17:23.60).
The meet is unofficially called the “Early Bird Invitational”. It attracted runners representing eight schools for the boys race and nine schools for the girls race.
Team scores are not officially kept, but medals are awarded to the top five finishers in each race.
Denver senior Jack Mulert was the fifth medalist (18:01.65) in the boys race.
Other would-be placement scorers for the Comet boys were junior Isaac Thompson (18:45.85, 14th), junior Lukas Vance (19:54.14, 36th) and sophomore Carter Haberkorn (19:55.91, 37th).
The top-five medalists in the girls race were Crestwood senior Kinze Shea (20:04.10), Jesup sophomore Mackenzie Wilson (20:28.70), Jesup junior Claire Wright (20:34.00), New Hampton senior Campbelle Kolbet (20:36.30) and New Hampton sophomore Natalie Nosbisch (20:49.10).
The top-five placing Comet girls included senior Harper McInroy (23:05.70, 18th), junior Lauren Staudt (23:59.53, 29th), senior Claire Eckenrod (25:00.21, 47th), junior Maggie Boss (25:39.49, 58th) and freshman Emma Prichard (26:21.31, 64th).
“The purpose of the Invite is really to get a race under the belt of our kids,” Charles City boys head coach Ryan Rahmiller said. “Nothing can simulate racing experience in practice. We learn so much from this race and it shows next week when we get to compete here again. The kids get to process the race in the meantime and then are able to get a second chance at it. We were really happy with the meet itself. We picked up some teams this year and we felt it was competitive for the first meet of the year. Nice weather and a great surface to compete on helps too.
“We had only a couple of PRs — Nick Williams and Carter Haberkorn. Both have been dialed in their training and went in with great mindsets. Besides a PR, I think Nick ran one of the smartest races I’ve seen out of him in cross or track. He was patient throughout the race, but just missed his chance to move into third. He’ll learn and grow from it and is going to have a great season. Xander (Graeser) ran well too, faded a little bit before the last half mile and then roared back to life to capture second.
“The race gave us an early glimpse at what a varsity line up could look like. It sets the stage for our runners to see who they matched up against and what they need to do to be where they want to be on the team too. We’re young and we’re going to learn a lot this year. I think it’ll be a solid group at the end of the season.”
Charles City girls coach Amanda Rahmiller posted comments about some of her runners.
“Harper McInroy started her season off well finishing within the top 20 of the girls’ race (last year she was 29th). Her goal coming into the meet was 23:30 and we’ve been running some race pace workouts at that so she was very pleased with 23:05. She looked very in control and strong from start to finish.
“Lauren Staudt almost mirrored her time from this meet last year. Lauren had the opportunity to be an FFA usher at the State Fair so we missed her the first 2 weeks of practice; once some more practices/meets get under her belt, the endurance piece will come. Very pleased with that effort after her time away.
” Claire Eckenrod was 42 seconds faster than last year at this meet. She put in some miles and strength training over the summer and it was nice to see her senior season start so well.
“Maggie Boss’s race was a highlight of the meet for me. She has looked very strong in practice and has been training with Claire and Cloey. At meets though, the pieces haven’t all fallen together. Tonight was a different story. She got off to a safe start and then passed a remarkable number of people throughout the race. Tonight was only the 2nd time in her career that she has been in the 25 minute range, the last time being as a freshman.
“Addison Tracey was almost a full minute faster than last year. Hannah DeVore was 55 seconds faster than last year.
The Comets will host any meet at Wildwood next Thursday — the Trent Smith Invitational.
At the Main Street Iowa Development Awards held recently in Des Moines, Barry Levey (second from left) was honored as Main Street Charles City's Leadership Award honoree, and Mark Wicks, third from left, was honored as one of Main Street's veteran Tenured Executive Directors (TEDs) . Also pictured are Main Street Iowa State Coordinator Michael Wagler and Debi Durham, executive director of the Iowa Economic Development Authority and the Iowa Finance Authority . Submitted photo
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