Panthers have high finishes against many top opponents

   When you run cross country in Eastern Iowa, you often face many of the best teams in the entire state.

   That was certainly true, once again, of the annual Bob Brown Invitational, held Sept. 1 at Kickers Soccer Park in Iowa City.

   Monticello’s boys were among 11 ranked teams. The girls didn’t face as many ranked foes, but did come up against Solon, the top-ranked team in Class 3A; and Tipton, ranked fourth in 2A.

   And both Panther teams more than held their own. The girls tied for first place in points with Solon, finishing second due to the sixth runner tie-breaker rule. Monticello’s boys were fifth.

   “It was a very competitive field,” Monticello coach Dan Sauser said.

   The girls were led by Emma Althoff, who finished third and “had an outstanding race,” the coach said. Her time was about 45 seconds faster than she had run on the same course a year ago.

   Monticello had five runners in the top 25. After Althoff, Leah Koehler was ninth, Ava Capron 11^th, Marisa Kehoe 22^nd and Halle Recker 23^rd.

   “To tie with the number one-ranked team in 3A says a lot about our team,” Sauser said.

   The boys, the coach said, “are continuing to improve. We had nobody in front, but when we start coming in, it’s in a hurry.”

   Chesney Capron led that charge, finishing 21^st and starting a string of five Panther runners in a span of 17 places and about 30 seconds of running time.

   He was followed by Jacob Miller in 25^th, Aedan Althoff 28^th, Alex Oswald 29^th, and Nathan Sauser 37^th.

   Nathan Sauser was the only Panther runner to have a personal best time, on a course that was estimated by coaches to be about .15 of a mile too long.

   “He really shined,” coach Sauser said. “It finally clicked for him.”

   Reeve Graver and Connor Eastin also ran season-best times.

   In the junior varsity races, the Panther boys were fourth and the girls were sixth. Royce Kiburz led the boys, finishing ninth overall and running about 2.5 minutes faster than he did last year on the same course. Kiburz, along with Elijah Norton and Joe Stoll, had season-best times.

   Mya Postel led the Panther JV girls with a 23^rd place finish; Leah Schemmel was 27^th.

   The JV girls ran in the worst heat of the event, and despite that and the length of the course, Jackie Stadtmueller came within four seconds of her season-best time, coach Sauser said.

   “The heat was bad (for the JV girls),” Sauser said. “After that the weather really wasn’t a factor the rest of the night.”

Home meet Saturday

   The Panthers will run their annual home invitational Saturday, Sept. 10 at Monticello High School.

   Race times are as follows: middle school girls at 8 a.m., middle school boys at 8:30 a.m., JV girls at 9 a.m., JV girls at 9:30 a.m., varsity girls at 10 a.m., and varsity boys at 10:30 a.m.

Aug. 27

Bob Brown Inv.

(at Kickers Soccer

Park, Iowa City)

VARSITY BOYS TEAM SCORES

     1, Marion 50; 2, Western Dubuque 86; 3, Tipton 103; 4, Iowa City Regina 131; 5, Monticello 140; 6, Clear Creek-Amana 144; 7, Solon 151; 8, Washington 152; 9, Anamosa 201; 10, Cascade 240; 11, Calamus-Wheatland 311; 12, Clinton Prince of Peace 313.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     21, Chesney Capron 18:25.51; 25, Jacob Miller, 18:43.32; 28, Aedan Althoff, 18:52.41; 29, Alex Oswald, 18:53.20; 37, Nathan Sauser, 19:05.61; 43, Cord Nietert, 19:19.08; 49, Reeve Graver, 19:30.27; 66, Walker  Spence, 20:14.56; 68, Rylan Bertling, 20:17.73; 70, Connor Eastin, 20:27.04.

VARSITY GIRLS TEAM SCORES

     1, Solon 64*; 2, Monticello 64; 3, Iowa City Liberty 83; 4, Clear Creek-Amana 107; 5, Tipton 119; 6, Washington 137; 7, Marion 159; 8, Cascade 230; 9, Iowa City Regina 251; 10, Anamosa 287.

* – won by sixth runner tie-breaker

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     3, Emma Althoff, 20:48.29; 9, Leah Koehler, 21:35.20; 11, Ava Capron 21:52.59; 22, Marisa Kehoe, 22:18.64; 23, Halle Recker, 22:22.79; 62, Emily Hendricks, 24:58.75; 65, Savannah Freese, 25:11.63; 68, Katie Roher, 25:24.65;

JV BOYS TEAM SCORES

     1, Clear Creek-Amana 26; 2, Washington 73; 3, Solon 97; 4, Monticello 109; 5, Marion 129; 6, Iowa City Regina 162; 7, Tipton 169; 8, Western Dubuque 176; 9, West Liberty 257.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     9, Royce Kiburz, 21:10.40; 18, Will Wolken, 21:40.86; 21, Dylan Ponder, 21:52.33; 28, Mace Schnoor, 22:32.69; 36, Alex Prull, 23:04.25; 43, Brennan Bohlken, 23:24.55; 48, Grant Gassman, 23:30.96; 55, Elijah Norton, 23:58.40; 79, Charly Lloyd, 25:43.42; 101, Joe Stoll, 30:43.67.

JV GIRLS TEAM SCORES

     1, Washington 38; 2, Solon 44; 3, Iowa City Liberty 72; 4, Marion 95; 5, Western Dubuque 117; 6, Monticello 146; 7, Clear Creek-Amana 176.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

     23, Mya Postel, 27:16.65; 27, Leah Schemmel, 28:13.39; 35, Jackie Stadtmueller, 29:17.07; 39, Brianna Kearney, 29:52.07; 51, Lauren Verhagen, 31:32.69.