Panther boys end up sixth; Kramer has top-half finish


Cole Cruise runs to a 21st place finish for Monticello during the State Class 2A Boys Cross Country Meet Oct. 27 in Fort Dodge. (Photos by Pete Temple)

Monticello freshman Karle Kramer competes at the State Class 2A Girls Cross Country Meet Oct. 27.

Jasper Nietert of the Panthers (683) sprints to the finish at the state meet. (Photo courtesy of Jim Loes)
CROSS COUNTRY
By: 
Pete Temple
Sports Editor

     Runners at the State Cross Country Meet Oct. 27 couldn’t have asked for a better day – sunny, a high in the mid-60s and a slight breeze.

     And the Monticello Panthers who ran in the meet, at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, couldn’t have asked for much better performances.

     The Panther boys qualified as a team for the 22nd consecutive year, and came away from the 2018 version with a sixth place finish in Class 2A out of 15 competing teams.

     “I think fifth through eighth is where we would have fit in, depending on the day,” Monticello coach Dan Sauser said. “We’re very happy with sixth, especially with the young team we have. A lot of the teams above us were very senior-heavy. They’re tough to beat; many of their runners have run there for several years.”

     Freshman Karle Kramer was the lone Panther girl to compete at State this year, and she took 59th place out of 137 finishers, with a time of 21:24.3.

     “Karle got a lot of good experience,” Sauser said. “It’s a difficult task, a freshman running by yourself in a new environment. It’s going to pay off for her.”

     The girls’ meet was won by Mid-Prairie with 89 points. Williamsburg was second with 118, and WC-KP finished third with 131.

     Mid-Prairie’s Marie Hostetler outdueled Emily Staal of Springville/Central City to win by 5.3 seconds.

     As for the boys, Monticello’s top five runners combined to finish about 62 seconds slower than they ran at the state qualifying meet the previous week. That seemed to be the trend; state runner-up Bellevue was 65 seconds slower, and Camanche, which finished ninth was 72 seconds slower than the week before.

     Tipton won the meet with 72 points, and Bellevue had 100, meaning the top two both came from the River Valley Conference. Monticello had 198, 28 behind fifth place Roland-Story and seven points ahead of seventh place South Hardin.

     Reece Smith of Garner-Hayfield-Ventura was the individual winner in 16:00.7, beating Joe Anderson of George-Little Rock/Central Lyon by 21.5 seconds.

     The Panther boys were led by Cole Cruise in 21st place, whose time of 17:19.8 was three seconds slower than his state qualifying time, while most runners averaged around 15 seconds slower.

     Carter Kurt was one second off his qualifying time while finishing fourth on the team. Jasper Nietert finished 55th, followed by Daltyn Kramer 58th, Kurt 66th, Zach Chapman in 92nd, David Titman 100th, and Austin Timm 104th.

     Cruise, Nietert, Kurt and Chapman are all expected to return next year.

     “It’s a good step in the right direction,” Sauser said. “We want to go in there next year and see if we can get on that podium (top three).

Awards meeting

     The Panther cross country teams will have their annual awards meeting Monday, Nov. 12, 7 p.m. in the high school commons.

    

Oct. 27

Class 2A State Meet

(at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course, Fort Dodge)

BOYS TEAM SCORES

     1, Tipton 72; 2, Bellevue 100; 3, Sioux Center 102; 4, George-Little Rock/Central Lyon 107; 5, Roland-Story 170; 6, Monticello 198; 7, South Hardin 205; 8, Camanche 210; 9, Albia 228; 10, Davis County 230; 11, Okoboji 245; 12, GC-GR 258; 13, Des Moines Christian 272; 14, Unity Christian 300; 15, Williamsburg 307.

MONTICELLO BOYS’ RESULTS

(Team points in parentheses)

     21 (14), Cole Cruise, 17:19.8; 55 (38), Jasper Nietert, 17:58.9; 58 (40), Daltyn Kramer, 18:04.4; 66 (44), Carter Kurt, 18:12.4; 92 (62), Zach Chapman, 18:33.7; 100 (68), David Titman, 18:42.9; 104 (72), Austin Timm, 18:50.8.

MONTICELLO GIRLS’ RESULTS

     59, Karle Kramer, 21:24.3.

 

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