MHS teams both run sixth at Iowa City

     Monticello collected a pair of sixth place finishes in a competitive field at the Bob Brown Invitational Cross Country Meet, held Sept. 3 at Kickers Soccer Park in Iowa City.

     The meet had a couple of unique features. First, all varsity and JV runners raced together. And second, the 14 teams were split into two groups of seven, and their races were run separately. At the end, the results were combined to determine overall champions, which for both genders was Iowa City Liberty.

     Monticello was in Group B, which was clearly in the more competitive of the two groups, as five of the top six boys’ teams and six of the top seven girls’ teams came from Group B.

     “Our group was absolutely loaded,” Monticello coach Dan Sauser said.

     That didn’t stop the Panther from collecting four season best times among the girls and five for the boys.

     The girls scored 180 points. Emma Althoff was the leading Panther runner, finishing seventh overall with a time of 21 minutes, 21.29 seconds.

     Althoff, Lydia Recker, Triniti Etzel, Karle Kramer, Katie Roher, Savannah Freese, Mya Postel, Ella Glawatz, Rylee Kraus and Emily Hendricks were all in the top 60 out of 167 total finishers.

     “It was great competition, and that’s why we like to go there,” Sauser said. “The girls ran pretty aggressively out of the gate. We have to have more improvements, but we’ll get there.”

     Freese, Emily Hendricks, Maddie Stadtmueller and Gabrielle Guilford all had season best times.

     “Savannah Freese stood out, and Emma Althoff had another solid race,” the coach said.

     The Panther boys were led by Jasper Nietert in seventh place with a time of 17:42.27; and Carter Kurt was 13^th. Also finishing in the top 60 were Harrison Ahlrichs, Zach Chapman, Jacob Miller, Ian Temple, Keegan Freese, Grant Hospodarsky, Dylan Ponder, Chesney Capron and Levi Temple. There were 242 runners in the boys’ race.

     “The boys started out much better (than the previous week in Maquoketa),” Sauser said. “Now we just have to train so we can carry that through the whole race.”

     Nathan Oswald and Miller had personal record times. Achieving season bests were Levi Temple, Walker Spence, Nathan Sauser, Keagan Glawatz and Connor Hynick. Kurt tied his season best.

     “Jasper had a good start,” the coach said. “He went out aggressively. And Carter Kurt had a really good race.”

     As a team (spots 1-5), the Panthers ran 1:11 faster than they did at the same meet a year ago.

Home meet Saturday

     The Panthers will host their annual Monticello Invitational Sept. 12 on the high school campus. Start times are as follows:

     • 8 a.m. – Grade 7-8 girls.

     • 8:30 a.m. – Grade 7-8 boys.

     • 9 a.m. – JV girls.

     • 9:30 a.m. – JV boys.

     • 10 a.m. – Varsity girls.

     • 10:30 a.m. – Varsity boys.

     Watch the Monticello Express Facebook page for guidance on coronavirus-related restrictions.

Correction

     An article in last week’s Express incorrectly stated that Alex Oswald was one of five Panthers JV boys to set personal record times in the season-opening Maquoketa meet.

     It should have listed Nathan Oswald instead. The Express regrets the error.

Sept. 3

Bob Brown Inv.

(at Kickers Soccer Park,

Iowa City)

BOYS TEAM SCORES

     1, Iowa City Liberty 30; 2, Mount Vernon-Lisbon 125; 3, Tipton 125; 4, Solon 126; 5, Marion 130; 6, Monticello 135; 7, Clear Creek-Amana 167; 8, Western Dubuque 217; 9, Cascade 233; 10, Calamus-Wheatland 269; 11, Iowa City Regina 318; 12, Anamosa 346; 13, Wilton 374; 14, North Cedar 421.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     7, Jasper Nietert, 17:42.27; 13, Carter Kurt, 18:24.04; 25, Harrison Ahlrichs, 18:57.09; 27, Zach Chapman, 19:04.61; 34, Jacob Miller, 19:23.85; 44, Ian Temple, 19:38.65; 45, Keegan Freese, 19:39.19; 55, Grant Hospodarsky, 20:18.67; 56, Dylan Ponder, 20:19.29; 58, Chesney Capron, 22:22.20; 59, Levi Temple, 20:27.93; 74, Cord Nietert, 20:53.96; 80, Ian Lorenzen, 21:19.78; 83, Jayden Orcutt, 21:22.53; 84, Nathan Oswald, 21:24.69; 91, Walker Spence, 21:34.81; 95, Hayden Tomkins, 21:42.70; 99, Caden Ungs, 21:53.25; 100, Erlin Bell, 21:54.39; 112, Dominik Chally, 22:38.68; 113, Nathan Sauser, 22:38.96; 124, Keagan Glawatz, 23:11.62; 125, Trey Kuper, 23:11.90; 128, Connor Hynick, 23:22.53; 137, Brock Westphal, 24:18.04; 140, Noah Webber, 24:42.39; 147, Marcus Sunlin, 25:27.73.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

     1, Iowa City Liberty 35; 2, Western Dubuque 87; 3, Solon 97; 4, Mount Vernon-Lisbon 131; 5, Tipton 131; 6, Monticello 180; 7, Iowa City Regina 207; 8, Marion 209; 9, Clear Creek-Amana 228; 10, Clinton Prince of Peace 259; 11, Anamosa 319; 12, Wilton 332; 13, Cascade 333; 14, North Cedar 342.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     7, Emma Althoff, 21:21.29; 29, Lydia Recker, 23:29.85; 31, Triniti Etzel, 23:32.32; 39, Karle Kramer, 24:04.04; 41, Katie Roher, 24:10.93; 50, Savannah Freese, 25:16.97; 51, Mya Postel, 25:18.27; 58, Ella Glawatz, 25:57.73; 59, Rylee Kraus, 26:02.64; 60, Emily Hendricks, 26:04.70; 74, Faith Hansen, 27:55.66; 76, Maddie Stadtmueller, 28:07.30; 77, Jackie Stadtmueller, 28:09.00; 82, Gabrielle Guilford, 28:38.89; 86, Dru Kramer, 29:01.74; 102, Kehde Campbell, 32:21.07.