Panthers display their depth during Iowa City meet

     Depth is going to be a key for both the boys’ and girls’ teams in Monticello cross country this season.

     At the season-opening Bob Brown Invitational Sept. 2 in Iowa City, the Panther girls showed they already have good depth. The boys showed that they eventually will.

     It was the first meet of the season for the Panthers, who had a scheduled Aug. 28 meet at Cedar Rapids Prairie cancelled due to excessive heat.

     “It was nice to finally get out and compete,” Monticello coach Dan Sauser said.

     The races, held at Kickers Soccer Park in Iowa City, were set up in a unique way. There were two groups of schools that ran, and each school could use all of its runners at the same time, rather than separate varsity and junior varsity races.

     Then results of the two races were then combined for total team scores and individual placings.

     When that was all settled, the Panther girls finished fifth of 11 teams, with 117 points. Emma Althoff led the way with a 17^th place finish in 21 minutes, 29.97 seconds; and Karle Kramer was 20^th in 21:35.48. Monticello’s two outstanding freshmen, Leah Koehler and Ava Capron, were 23^rdand 25^th, respectively.

     “The girls looked really solid,” Sauser said. “Emma and Karle are going to give us a great one-two punch, and those freshman girls are really stepping in and giving us what we need.

     “What we’re going to have to work on next is going for that fifth runner to step up closer to that fourth spot.”

     Sauser credited Marisa Kehoe, Savannah Freese and Faith Hansen with an outstanding race. It was the first cross country race ever for Kehoe. Freese ran about a minute faster than she did at the same meet a year ago, and Hansen beat her 2020 Iowa City time by just under three minutes.

     “That’s going to give us that added depth,” the coach said.

     Fourteen of the 19 girls who ran had season best times, Sauser added.

     The boys finished eighth overall. Jacob Miller led the team with a 38^th place finish in 19:01.76, and Chesney Capron was 49^th in 19:22.51. Miller beat his 2020 time by about 20 seconds, and Capron was about a minute faster than a year ago.

     The next Panther foursome – Cord Nietert, Alex Oswald, Walker Spence and Grant Hospodarsky – was separated by six spots in the final order, 70^th through 76^th; and by under 18 seconds in race time.

     Monticello was also missing two of its top runners, Carter Kurt and Harrison Ahlrichs, due to injury.

     “I was really pleased with the boys’ efforts,” coach Sauser said. “It was not the race we wanted from a results standpoint, but it was a good start to the season, and something to build off of.”

     The coach praised Cord Nietert, who was about a minute faster than he was in the same race in 2020; and Alex Oswald, who stepped up to be the team’s fourth finisher in the race.

Monticello Invite next

     Monticello will host its invitational race Saturday, Sept. 11 on the high school grounds. Several highly-ranked programs are scheduled to be in attendance, including Mid-Prairie, Tipton and Solon.

     There will be six races in all, according to the following schedule:

     • 8 a.m. – middle school girls.

     • 8:30 a.m. – middle school boys.

     • 9 a.m. – JV girls.

     • 9:30 a.m. – JV boys.

     • 10 a.m. – varsity girls.

     • 10:30 a.m. – varsity boys.

Sept. 2

Bob Brown Inv.

(at Kickers Soccer Park,

Iowa City)

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

     1, Solon 54; 2, Western Dubuque 75; 3, Tipton 98; 4, Iowa City Liberty 98; 5, Monticello 117; 6, Marion 131; 7, Clear Creek-Amana 169; 8, Clinton 200; 9, Iowa City Regina 209; 10, Wilton 315; 11, Anamosa 346.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     17, Emma Althoff, 21:29.97; 20, Karle Kramer, 21:35.48; 23, Leah Koehler, 21:54.80; 25, Ava Capron 22:00.17; 41, Lydia Recker, 22:55.40; 47, Marisa Kehoe, 23:15.05; 68, Savannah Freese, 24:17.31; 85, Faith Hansen, 24:57.46; 90, Emily Hendricks, 25:06.48; 102, Mya Postel, 25:48.77; 105, Ella Glawatz, 26:02.13; 113, Katie Roher, 26:32.73; 115, Rylee Kraus, 26:36.11; 129, Lauren Verhagen, 27:26.05; 135, Riley Evans, 27:36.31.; 147, JoAnna Patterson, 28:43.71; 149, Jackie Stadtmueller, 29:07.05; 165, Lily Moestchen, 30:19.34; 176, Ella Sauser, 32:44.05.

BOYS TEAM SCORES

     1, Marion 49; 2, Iowa City Liberty 57; 3, Tipton 87; 4, Western Dubuque 90; 5, Solon 128; 6, Clear Creek-Amana 148; 7, Iowa City Regina 230; 8, Monticello 245; 9, Cascade 267; 10, Clinton 280; 11, Anamosa 322; 12, Clinton Prince of Peace 343; 13, Calamus-Wheatland 383; 14, Wilton 419.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     38, Jacob Miller, 19:01.76; 49, Chesney Capron, 19:22.51; 70, Cord Nietert, 20:06.26; 72, Alex Oswald, 20:10.59; 73, Walker Spence, 20:13.16; 76, Grant Hospodarsky, 20:23.50; 99, Dylan Ponder, 20:54.72; 122, Ian Temple, 21:25.63; 123, Erlin Bell, 21:28.73; 124, Reeve Graver, 21:29.29; 131, Hayden Tomkins, 21:39.98; 146, Nathan Sauser, 22:11.84; 153, Connor Eastin, 22:37.31; 183, Royce Kiburz, 23:31.87; 184, Alex Prull, 23:33.23; 191, Charly Lloyd, 23:54.50; 193, Kyle Shady, 24:05.44; 207, Trey Kuper, 24:32.81; 211, Noah Webber, 24:38.54; 220, Cole Nietert, 25:07.17.