Midland fall sports seasons end

Cross country

     Midland completed its high school boys cross country season at the Class 1A State Qualifying Meet Oct. 22 at Fillmore Fairways.

     Because there was a change from six state qualifying sites to eight this year, Class 1A qualified two teams and 10 individuals from each race.

     The Eagles finished seventh as a team with a score of 217, winning a tie-breaker over Lone Tree due to the sixth runner rule.

     Midland’s top individual was Trenton Rickels, who finished 14^th in 19:14, missing a state meet berth by four spots.

     “Even though this was not his best time, this was his best race of the year,” Midland coach Jon Eganhouse side. “It was a wet, cold day. Even though he did not qualify, he did beat some runners that he had not beaten all year.”

     Also for Midland, Milo Smith was 54^th in 21:48, Tristan Kunde was 60^th in 22:03, Jordan Buford was 66^th in 23:25, Jay Bentley was 67^th in 23:28, and Bryce Rushford was 85^th in 26:58.

     “As I step back, I see the core of a very good team,” Eganhouse said. “Every coach knows that the runners cannot be successful by starting to run on the first day of practice, but what they do in the off-season. That is my expectation of this team, to do more work through the winter, spring and summer. I believe the result will be dropping times and being more competitive at the team level.

     “My other goal for next year is to find some girl runners, so we can start building toward a future girls’ team.”

Volleyball

     Bellevue Marquette won the third and fourth sets, the latter by two points, as the Midland volleyball team saw its season come to an end in a Class 1A regional first round match.

     Midland lost 21-25, 26-24, 10-25, 23-25 Oct. 19 in Bellevue.

     The Eagles were led by Arianna Hacke with 10 kills, Hope Saroka with 12 assists, and Ella Rupp with 25 digs. In all, Midland had 81 digs, including 13 apiece from Gracie Harrington and Hacke, and 10 from Saroka.

     Midland served at 95 percent. Saroka served 15-for-15, and Allison Paulsen served 13-for-13 with two aces. Also getting two aces each were Maisie Paulsen and Hacke.

     The Eagles finished 4-26, including 1-5 in the Tri-Rivers Conference East Division.