Panther teams take aim at their postseason targets

     As the Monticello High School cross country teams prepare for Thursday’s State Qualifying Meet, it is clear what targets the Panther teams are pursuing.

     For the boys, it’s the goal of a 21^st consecutive trip to the state meet, which they can achieve with a top-three finish at the qualifier, to be held at Kickers Soccer Park in Iowa City.

     For the girls, the main target is Mid-Prairie, the top-ranked team that bested the Panthers by 20 points at last week’s River Valley Conference Meet. Monticello won’t see Mid-Prairie at the qualifying race, but as both are favorites at their respective races this week, they are likely to match strides again at the Oct. 28 state meet.

     In each case, “We can compete, but we are going to have to have our best race,” Monticello coach Dan Sauser said.

     At the conference meet, also held at the Iowa City soccer park, the Panthers took aim at Mid-Prairie.

     “We knew they would be tough,” Sauser said. “We wanted to see if we could make some headway against them, which I think we did, and see if we could improve our one to five split.”

     The Panthers are hoping to have their top runner, Paige Holub, and whoever is fifth on the team, separated by 90 seconds. At the conference meet, that separation was 2:02.

     “I think we had a very solid performance to set us up for the race on Thursday,” the coach said.

     Holub was third overall. Taylor McDonald ran seventh, Gabrielle Steiner ninth, Jordyn Patterson 12^th and Emily Schlarmann 20^th. Anna Loes – the Panthers’ top JV runner in the race – beat her season best time by 1:11 to earn the alternate’s spot this week.

     “Gabi is starting to step up, and had the potential to make another leap yet,” Sauser said. “And Anna Loes ran the race of her season.”

     The boys ran fifth as a team.

     “The boys ran a very solid race,” Sauser said. “They were fifth, but this is a very deep and talented conference. Nearly all of them were 10 to 20 seconds off their season best on a spongy course.”

     The Panthers now have two freshmen in the varsity lineup: Jasper Nietert, who was third on the team and 30^th overall; and Zach Chapman, sixth on the team and 43^rd overall.

     Aaron Loes was the top Monticello runner, taking 18^th overall. Cole Cruise was 23^rd, David Titman 34^th, Ben Barnhart 41^st, and Ryan Oswald 45^th.

     Alex Nealson was the top JV runner for the Panthers. Alex Fagan, who also ran JV, beat his season best by 33 seconds.

Thursday time change

     There is a slight time change for the State Qualifying Meet Thursday. The girls will still race at 4 p.m., but the boys’ race has been moved back to 4:45.

Oct. 12

River Valley Conf. Meet

(at Kickers Soccer Park,

Iowa City)

VARSITY GIRLS TEAM SCORES

     1, Mid-Prairie 31; 2, Monticello 51; 3, Cascade 93; 4, Iowa City Regina 119; 5, North Cedar 150; 6, Tipton 181; 7, Camanche 202; 8, Wilton 240; 9, Durant 245; 10, Northeast 263; 11, Bellevue 281; 12, West Liberty 297.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     3, Paige Holub, 20:13.59; 7, Taylor McDonald, 21:06.17; 9, Gabrielle Steiner, 21:08.08; 12, Jordyn Patterson, 21:40.39; 20, Emily Schlarmann, 22:14.02; 23, Lauren Lambert, 22:15.03; 29, Rachel Larabee, 22:46.67.

VARSITY BOYS TEAM SCORES

     1, Bellevue 34; 2, Mid-Prairie 74; 3, Tipton 82; 4, Durant 122; 5, Monticello 144; 6, Northeast 144; 7, Iowa City Regina 188; 8, Camanche 199; 9, Wilton 206; 10, Cascade 251; 11, North Cedar 353; 12, West Liberty 361.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     18, Aaron Loes, 18:40.45; 23, Cole Cruise, 18:53.41; 30, Jasper Nietert, 19:16.21; 34, David Titman, 19:26.95; 41, Ben Barnhart, 19:36.55; 43, Zach Chapman, 19:38.12; 45, Ryan Oswald, 19:40.79.

JV GIRLS TEAM SCORES

     No team scores kept.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     35, Anna Loes, 23:07.90; 41, Keeley Anderson, 22:33.30; 49, Lizzie Petersen, 24:17.13; 52, Gabby Guilford, 24:22.87; 56, Natalie Newhard, 24:33.54; 59, Brooklyn Stark, 24:37.48; 70, Dru Kramer, 25:32.53.

JV BOYS TEAM SCORES

     No team scores kept.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     47, Alex Nealson, 19:42.94; 55, Daltyn Kramer, 20:03.97; 69, Austin Timm, 20:26.85; 77, Carter Cruise, 20:46.91; 85, Dalton Hampson, 21:06.70; 96, Levi Temple, 21:28.38; 97, Jayden Orcutt, 21:28.92.