Panther boys are second, girls are third in RVC meet

The two top-ranked cross country teams in Class 2A led the way as the Monticello Panthers competed in the River Valley Conference Meet Tuesday, Oct. 15 at Kickers Soccer Park in Iowa City.
The Panthers held their own in the face of such tough competition, finishing second as a team in the boys’ race and third in the girls’ race. In each case, the number one-ranked team controlled things. Tipton won the boys’ event by 39 over the Panthers, 31 to 70. Mid-Prairie was the girls’ winner with 26 points, well ahead of runner-up Iowa City Regina (74) and Monticello (80).
In most cases, the Panthers ran considerably better than they had back on Sept. 5, the last time they were on the Iowa City Course.
Jasper Nietert led the Monticello boys with a seventh place finish. All of the Panthers’ top five runners finished in the top 20 for team scoring, including Harrison Ahlrichs in 11th place, Cole Cruise 13th, Carter Kurt 19th, and Zach Chapman 20th. Carter Cruise was 33rd and Grant Hospodarsky 39th among varsity runners. Dylan Ponder, in 41st, had the team’s top JV finish.
“Tipton is the clear number one,” Monticello coach Dan Sauser said. “We wanted to see whether we could stack up with them. We had one of the closest point totals to them this season.”
The best part, Sauser said, was that the Panthers improved their 1-5 split, which was about a minute in the previous week’s DeWitt meet. This time it was 49 seconds; the goal is to get it down to 30.
“We’re getting there,” the coach said.
He added that the team was proud of the runner-up finish.
“Second in the conference is outstanding, in one of the premier if not the premier 2A conferences in the state,” he said.
The girls had a similar task, facing number one Mid-Prairie, but were also passed by Regina in the team standings.
“Mid-Prairie is number one for a reason,” Sauser said. “But you’ve got to give Regina credit; they ran outstanding. I did not see that one coming.”
The Panther girls also had improved times over the previous Iowa City meet, particularly from Emily Hendricks, who beat her Sept. 5 time by 1:37.
“She’s pushing into the upper tier of runners,” Sauser said.
That upper tier includes Emma Althoff, who ran fifth overall and about a minute faster than the last time in Iowa City. Hendricks finished 16th, Karle Kramer was 22nd, Lydia Recker 23rd, and Triniti Etzel 26th. Rounding out the varsity finishers were Katie Roher in 33rd place and Mya Postel in 38th. Sarah Spence, in 53rd place, was the top JV runner for MHS.
Sauser noted three other runners who had outstanding performances. Kehde Campbell was the only Panther on either team to post a personal record, beating her previous one by about a minute.
“I was really happy to see her end her season that way,” the coach said.
Ella Glawatz improved her previous Iowa City time by about four minutes to record a season best time, and Jaelyn Graver had a season best by about 30 seconds.
State Qualifying
Meet Thursday
The Panthers will travel to Fox Ridge Golf Course in Dike for its Class 2A State Qualifying Meet. The girls’ race is scheduled for 4 p.m., followed by the boys at 4:30 p.m. The top three teams and top 15 individuals in each race will qualify for the Nov. 2 state meet in Fort Dodge.
Ranked teams in the boys’ race – as of Oct. 15 – will be Monticello (third) and South Hardin (fourth). Jesup and Union of LaPorte City are listed as “teams to watch” (16th-20th).
For the girls, Monticello is ranked fourth, Jesup sixth, Dike-New Hartford 10th, and Springville/Central City is on the “teams to watch” list.
Oct. 15
River Valley Conf. Meet
(at Kickers Park, Iowa City)
VARSITY BOYS TEAM SCORES
1, Tipton 31; 2, Monticello 70; 3, Camanche 123; 4, Mid-Prairie 134; 5, Iowa City Regina 164; 6, Northeast 169; 7, Bellevue 169; 8, Cascade 190; 9, Anamosa 210; 10, Wilton 263; 11, West Liberty 283; 12, Durant 319; 13, North Cedar 365.
MONTICELLO RESULTS
(Varsity and JV ran together)
7, Jasper Nietert, 17:46.95; 11, Harrison Ahlrichs, 18:07.48; 13, Cole Cruise, 18:12.78; 19, Carter Kurt, 18:31.56; 20, Zach Chapman, 18:35.05; 33, Carter Cruise, 18:59.65; 39, Grant Hospodarsky, 19:23.40; 41, Dylan Ponder, 19:33.19; 57, Gavin Baugh, 20:10.14; 58, Jacob Miller, 20:10.91; 65, Levi Temple, 20:21.17; 66, Jayden Orcutt, 20:22.94; 78, Kale Hansen, 20:41.34; 101, Dominik Chally, 21:36.86; 104, Keagan Glawatz, 21:40.26; 114, Noah Webber, 22:19.50; 114, Erlin Bell, 22:20.19; 116, Cord Nietert, 22:20.55; 122, Hayden Tomkins, 22:37.66; 124, Nathan Sauser, 22:47.00; 129, Nathan Oswald, 23:11.72; 131, Trey Kuper, 23:17.35; 140, Connor Hynick, 24:24.98.
VARSITY GIRLS TEAM SCORES
1, Mid-Prairie 26; 2, Iowa City Regina 74; 3, Monticello 80; 4, Tipton 118; 5, Cascade 147; 6, Northeast 156; 7, Anamosa 167; 8, North Cedar 185; 9, Wilton 236; 10, Durant 256.
MONTICELLO RESULTS
(Varsity and JV ran together)
5, Emma Althoff, 20:44.13; 16, Emily Hendricks, 21:45.65; 22, Karle Kramer, 22:18.18; 23, Lydia Recker, 22:22.02; 26, Triniti Etzel, 22:49.87; 33, Katie Roher, 23:20.08; 38, Mya Postel, 23:46.25; 53, Sarah Spence, 24:41.16; 58, Ella Glawatz, 24:59.90; 61, Faith Hansen, 25:17.33; 64, Maddie Stadtmueller, 25:52.44; 67, Dru Kramer, 26:15.39; 69, Gabrielle Guilford, 26:20.02; 71, Savannah Freese, 26:32.39; 73, Jaelyn Graver, 26:37.17; 84, Jackie Stadtmueller, 28:03.90; 86, Lizzie Petersen, 28:10.81; 91, Kehde Campbell, 29:11.59.