Top-ranked Panthers win again; No. 7 boys run fourth

   Monticello moved up to the No. 1 ranking in Class 2A in girls cross country last week, while the Panthers jumped up to No. 7 in the team ranking for boys.

   Both teams lived up to their recent attention during the Cascade Invitational Sept. 15 on the grueling hills of Fillmore Fairways.

   The Panther girls were champions for the second meet in a row, and the boys ran fourth in a loaded field in their race.

   Monticello totaled 51 points in the girls’ race, with all of its top five runners finishing in the top 16. The Panthers finished ahead of two River Valley Conference foes, Tipton (69) and Dyersville Beckman (107), among others.

   It showed that not only can the Panthers perform well on the mostly flat, fast course in Monticello, but also on the hills of Fillmore.

   “It was another good, successful run for the girls,” Monticello coach Dan Sauser said. “They’re going to run well on any course.”

   Emma Althoff finished fourth overall, Leah Koehler was eighth, Halle Recker took 10^th, Marisa Kehoe was 13^th, and Ava Capron finished 16^th. The Panthers’ sixth runner was Emily Hendricks, who was 40^th.

   “That’s a solid top five that we’re leaning on to do the majority of the work,” the coach said. “Emma had another outstanding race. And Emily Hendricks has settled in as a nice sixth runner for us.”

   The Panther boys totaled 108 points, behind Marion (48), Tipton (62) and Iowa City Regina (88).

   Chesney Capron led Monticello with a seventh place finish. Jacob Miller was 13^th, Alex Oswald 24^th, Aedan Althoff 29^th, Cord Nietert 35^th, Nathan Sauser 36^th and Walker Spence 40^th.

   “The boys had another solid performance,” Sauser said. “To get fourth in that field says a lot about how the boys’ team continues to develop. We’ll take that as a huge plus.”

   The Panther boys ran a team time (top five runners, combined) that was 5:16 faster than Monticello ran last year in the same race.

   “That’s about a minute per runner,” the coach said. “They did a lot of work in the summer.”

Anamosa next

   The Panthers will race in the Anamosa Invitational Sept. 24 at Anamosa Middle School.

   Race times are as follows: 9 a.m. for middle school girls, 9:20 a.m. for middle school boys, 9:40 a.m. for junior varsity girls, 10 a.m. for junior varsity boys, 10:30 a.m. for varsity girls, and 10:55 a.m. for varsity boys.

Sept. 15

Cascade Inv.

(at Fillmore Fairways)

BOYS TEAM SCORES

     1, Marion 48; 2, Tipton 62; 3, Iowa City Regina 88; 4, Monticello 108; 5, Cascade 160; 6, Dubuque Wahlert 168; 7, Anamosa 170; 8, Jesup 238*; 9, Maquoketa Valley 238; 10, Benton Community 244; 11, Calamus-Wheatland 284; 11, Dyersville Beckman 337; 13, Clinton Prince of Peace 340; 14, Maquoketa 398; 15, Wilton 400; 16, Durant 470.

* – earned place due to sixth runner tie-breaker rule

MONTICELLO RESULTS

(Varsity and JV ran together)

     7, Chesney Capron, 17:43.4; 13, Jacob Miller, 18:23.4; 24, Alex Oswald, 18:53.4; 29, Aedan Althoff, 19:06.8; 35, Cord Nietert, 19:17.8; 36, Nathan Sauser, 19:25.1; 40, Walker Spence, 19:36.5; 52, Reeve Graver, 19:56.9; 55, Rylan Bertling, 20:06.2; 71, Connor Eastin, 20:41.9; 74, Dylan Ponder, 20:52.8; 82, Mace Schnoor, 21:14.4; 86, Royce Kiburz, 21:20.5; 91, Will Wolken, 21:27.9; 103, Alex Prull, 21:59.5; 123, Grant Gassman, 22:41.7; 158, Charly Lloyd, 25:49.0.

GIRLS TEAM SCORES

     1, Monticello 51; 2, Tipton 69; 3, Dyersville Beckman 107; 4, Dubuque Wahlert 142; 5, Marion 149; 6, Jesup 155; 7, Benton Community 166; 8, Iowa City Regina 175; 9, Cascade 201; 10, Anamosa 254; 11, Maquoketa Valley 266.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

(Varsity and JV ran together)

     4, Emma Althoff, 20:59.0; 8, Leah Koehler, 21:25.8; 10, Halle Recker, 21:53.9; 13, Marisa Kehoe, 22:03.6; 16, Ava Capron, 22:09.6; 40, Emily Hendricks, 24:04.9; 58, Katie Roher, 25:15.5; 68, Mya Postel, 26:02.5; 73, Savannah Freese, 26:40.2; 79, Leah Schemmel, 26:56.2; 82, Bri Kearney, 27:20.8; 98, Jackie Stadtmueller, 28:41.0; 107, Serena Brokaw, 30:02.4.