Eagles run in pair of meets

Cross country

     Midland had a pair of cross country meets last week, including a Sept. 21 meet at Bellevue, and a Sept. 26 meet at Anamosa.

     In the Anamosa Invitational, the Eagles finished 13^th with a score of 364. Trenton Rickels finished 47^th in 19:06.9; Tristan Kunde was 78^th in 21:47.8, Milo Smith took 85^th in 23:49.0, Jay Bentley was 86^th in 24:27.1, and Bryce Rushford finished 87^th  in 25:39.6.

     “Trenton Rickels had missed the previous week with a bad cold, not COVID,” Midland coach Jon Eganhouse said. “It was good to have him and his leadership back.”

     Rickels also led the team at Bellevue, with a time of 19:46. Smith finished in 22:26, Kunde in 22:32, Jordan Buford in 23:23, and Jay Bentley had a personal best time of 24:35. Rushford was clocked in 28:44.

     Midland finished ninth in the meet.

     “Since numerous teams were missing runners, the team scores only counted the top four runners instead of the usual five,” Eganhouse said.

     “We have no meets scheduled this week, so we can take time and work on areas like pacing and hills.”

Football

     Easton Valley took a 21-0 lead by halftime, then outscored Midland 34-6 in the second half to defeat the Eagles 55-6 Friday, Sept. 25 at Easton Valley.

     Midland (2-2) was held to 115 total yards in the game, including 42 passing yards. Cayden Miller was the leading rusher, with 48 yards in 27 carries, including the team’s only touchdown.

     The Eagles had some high points on defense. Jamisen Dodge made an interception, and Iziek Soper recovered an Easton Valley fumble. Soper also had 1.5 sacks, Caden Ballou had a sack, and Connor Martin had 0.5 sacks.

      Leading tacklers for Midland were Jon Thomsen with eight, Ballou with 7.5, Kaleb Westphal with six, and Soper with five.

Volleyball

     It was a five-match week for the Midland volleyball team, including a pair of Tri-Rivers Conference matches and a tournament at North Cedar.

     Midland (0-3, 2-21) started the week with a five-set loss to Cedar Valley Christian Sept. 22 in Wyoming. Midland won the first two sets 25-21, 25-22, before losing 17-25, 9-25, 13-15.

     Hope Saroka put up 15 assists, and Madisyn Kreel had 10. Kill leaders were Bailie Uppena and Allison Paulsen with 10 apiece. Ella Rupp made 22 digs, Maisie Paulsen had 17 and Saroka had 14. Rupp served 16-for-18 with six aces. Adriana Hacke and Paulsen had three aces each.

     The Eagles then traveled to Clinton to face Prince of Peace, and lost 16-25, 9-25, 9-25. Hacke had seven digs, Allison Paulsen had five kills, and Kreel made six assists in the match.

     On Saturday, Sept. 26, Midland played three matches in the North Cedar Tournament. They began with a 12-25, 1025 loss to Springville. Hacke had six kills and six digs, and Saroka had six assists.

     Against Calamus-Wheatland, the Eagles lost 22-25, 24-26. Rupp had 19 of the team’s 50 digs in the match, while Hacke had 11 and Allison Paulsen had nine. Hacke led the team in kills with six, and Kreel made eight assists.

     Midland then fell to Durant 12-25, 23-25 in the final match. Gracie Harrington led the Eagles in digs with eight. Saroka served 9-for-9 with two aces.