Panthers have bright spots at Prairie despite heat, humidity, mud

     Saturday morning, Aug. 25, started out moderately warm and foggy.

     Then the fog burned out, the heat and humidity rose, and runners at the Cedar Rapids Prairie Cross Country Invitational suddenly had a struggle on their hands.

     “I’ve never seen a meet change so fast,” Monticello coach Dan Sauser said, referring to the weather. “You could see it in the athletes’ faces. Even the best athletes were struggling as much as any other kid in those races.”

     The weather conditions, as well as the muddy spots after heavy rains the night before, caused the conditions to worsen as the morning went along, before officials decided to cancel the last two races of the meet, the boys’ and girls’ junior varsity events.

     Despite this, the Monticello Panthers had plenty of bright spots in their first meet of the season. The boys finished 15th overall, but were fourth in the Orange Division, which included Class 2A and 3A schools.

     Jasper Nietert led the Panthers with a seventh place finish in the Orange Division. Zach Chapman was 19^th, Daltyn Kramer 27^th, David Titman 31^st, and Cole Cruise 45^th.

     “Jasper ran a real solid race,” Sauser said. “Overall, I thought the boys handled the heat well despite everything.

     In poor conditions, Nietert came within 16 seconds of his personal record, and Zach Chapman was 22 seconds off his.

     Monticello’s girls were 14^th overall and sixth in the 2A/3A division, led by Gabrielle Steiner, who was 16^th in the division. Karle Kramer ran 19^th, Emily Schlarmann was 26^th, Lydia Recker took 55^th and Makenna Patterson was 62^nd.

     “I was really pleased with the effort,” Sauser said. “There were some definite plusses we’re going to take out of this. Triniti Etzel is brand new to our team, and she was our seventh runner. And Karle Kramer stepped up to be our number two in her first race. She ran a great race under really tough conditions.”

     The Panthers are scheduled to run in the Bob Brown Invitational Aug. 30 in Iowa City.

Aug. 25

Cedar Rapids Prairie

Invitational

VARSITY BOYS TEAM SCORES

(Orange Division, Classes 2A/3A)

     1, Clear Creek-Amana 38; 2, Marion 51; 3, Mount Vernon/Lisbon 78; 4, Monticello 127; 5, Cedar Rapids Xavier 153; 6, Mid-Prairie 166; 7, Solon 175; 8, Fort Madison 178; 9, Cascade 249; 10, Maquoketa 277.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     7, Jasper Nietert, 18:38.4; 19, Zach Chapman, 19:32.0; 27, Daltyn Kramer, 19:56.2; 31, David Titman, 20:05.9; 45, Cole Cruise, 20:43.0; 56, Carter Kurt, 20:55.2; 64, Austin Timm, 21:31.9; 68, Levi Temple, 21:42.2; 76, Grant Hospodarsky, 22:17.8; 79, Jayden Orcutt, 22:36.6.

VARSITY GIRLS TEAM SCORES

(Orange Division, Classes 2A/3A)

     1, Mid-Prairie 40; 2, Solon 73; 3, Cascade 92; 4, Mount Vernon/Lisbon 107; 5, Marion 110; 6, Monticello 146; 7, Cedar Rapids Xavier 156; 8, Anamosa 165.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     16, Gabrielle Steiner, 22:54.7; 19, Karle Kramer, 23:04.8; 26, Emily Schlarmann, 23:33.6; 55, Lydia Recker, 26:10.5; 62, Makenna Patterson, 26:46.9; 67, Dru Kramer, 27:20.5; 68, Triniti Etzel, 27:28.0; 70, Gabby Guilford, 27:39.4; 75, Lizzie Petersen, 29:14.5.