Comets set PRs during DNH Cross Country Invitational

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

DIKE — You may never be able to run back in time, but some can chase down younger yet slower versions of themselves.

The Charles City cross country program has a few runners in that juncture of their lives where they can still do that.

At Tuesday’s Dike-New Hartford Invitational, several of the Comets’ top finishers attained personal-record 5K times.

Junior Nick Williams, a two-time returning state-qualifier, placed fourth in the Varsity Boys race with a time of 16 minutes, 44.2 seconds. Not only was it Williams’s third-straight meet in which he recorded a sub-17-minute time, Tuesday’s effort at Fox Ridge Golf Course bested his PR from last season by nearly a second.

Previously in the Varsity Girls race, Comet seniors Lauren Staudt and Maggie Boss placed 24th and 60th with respective PR times of 21:24.5 and 23:03.7 — for Staudt, it was 45 seconds faster than her previous PR 5K time she set at last week’s meet at Grundy Center; for Boss, it was 19 seconds faster than her previous PR, also set a Grundy Center.

With Charles City’s other resident junior two-time state-qualifier Xander Graeser recording his fastest time of the season (17:02.6 — good enough for 7th place), followed by seniors Isaac Thompson (11th, 17:29.4) and Lukas Vance (27th, 18:16.8), and sophomore Jackson Kowalski (41st, 18:56.3), the Comet boys placed fourth amid the 20-team field with 85 team points behind Denver (65), Grinnell (76) and Grundy Center (83), the latter of which was led by the one-two punch of senior Kaden Lynch and sophomore Emerson Vokes, who placed first and second a half-of-second apart from one another with respective times of 16:01.9 and 16:02.3.

After Staudt and Boss recorded their team’s first two placements in the girls race, senior Mackenzie Zweibohmer (100th, 24:59.7), and freshmen Mayzie Bruening (120th, 26:09.7) and Megan Babcock (121st, 26:18.8) rounded out the Comet girls’ scoring (382), which placed them 15th among 18 teams.

Sumner-Fredericksburg placed first with 83 team points.

North Linn Troy Mills senior Megan Wheatley paced the Varsity Girls field with a time of 17:47.9 — a new PR for Wheatley, who bested her previous PR by nearly 30 seconds.

Charles City placed third among 13 teams in the Junior Varsity Boys 5K. Freshman Andy Lemke and junior Michael Bauer were the first JV Comets across the finish line with respective 11th- and 12th-place times of 20:18.5 and 20:22.8.

The next meet for the Charles City Comets is the Northeast Iowa Conference Meet next Tuesday (Oct. 10) at Waukon Golf and Country Club.

Dike-New Hartford Cross Country Invitational

Oct. 3

AT FOX RIDGE GOLF COURSE

Varsity Girls 5K

TEAM SCORES — 1. Sumner-Fredericksburg 83, 2. Denver 104, 3. North Linn Troy Mills 150*, 4. Union La Porte City 150*, 5. Iowa Falls-Alden 176, 6. Dike-New Hartford 215, 7. Grundy Center 220*, 8. Hudson 220*, 9. Osage 224, 10. Benton Community 260, 11. Newman Catholic 264, 12. Grinnell 295, 13. Wapsie Valley Fairbank 299, 14. BCLUW Conrad 363, 15. Charles City 382, 16. Aplington-Parkersburg 390, 17. West Marshall State Center 407, 18. North Tama Traer 453.

* Tiebreaker placement

TOP 10 FINISHERS — 1. Meghan Wheatley (NLTM) 17:47.9, 2. Hillary Trainor (SF) 17:54.8, 3. Amilia Condon (ULPC) 19:20.1, 4. Scarlett Byrnes (O) 19:28.6, 5. Abbi Waskow (Dunkerton) 19:45.7, 6. Kyliee Zylstra (G) 20:03.0, 7. Izzy Houts (DNH) 20:06.8, 8. Jaida Lyons (BC) 20:19.5, 9. Mollie Hansen (H) 20:30.6, 10. Reeve Ristau (D) 20:32.1.

CHARLES CITY — 24. Lauren Staudt 21:24.5, 60. Maggie Boss 23:03.7, 100. Mackenzie Zweibohmer 24:59.7, 120. Mayzie Bruening 26:09.7, 121. Megan Babcock 26:18.8.

Varsity Boys 5K

TEAM SCORES — 1. Denver 65, 2. Grinnell 76, 3. Grundy Center 83, 4. Charles City 85, 5. Benton Community 185, 6. West Marshall State Center 220, 7. Sumner-Fredericksburg 241, 8. Baxter 252, 9. Hudson 254, 10. Newman Catholic 277, 11. Columbus Catholic 299, 12. Union La Porte City 308, 13. Osage 322, 14. Dike-New Hartford 340, 15. Valley Lutheran 390, 16. Wapsie Valley Fairbank 416, 17. Iowa Falls-Alden 439, 18. BCLUW-Conrad 476, 19. Colo-Nesco 553, 20. Janesville 587.

TOP 10 FINISHERS — 1. Kaden Lynch (GC) 16:01.8, 2. Emerson Vokes (GC) 16:02.3, 3. Neal Pinter (D) 16:12.9, 4. Nick Williams (CC) 16:44.2, 5. Liam Crites (G) 16:49.8, 6. Cadel Conner (G) 16:57.0, 7. Xander Graeser (CC) 17:02.6, 8. Myles Matthias (D) 17:03.3, 9. Cayden White (BCLUW) 17:09.4, 10. Matt Richardson (B) 17:10.9.

CHARLES CITY — 4. Williams, 7. Graeser, 11. Isaac Thompson 17:29.4, 27. Lukas Vance 18:16.8, 41. Jackson Kowalski 18:56.3.