Eagles compete in pair of meets

Cross country

     The Midland Eagles ran in two cross country meets in last week’s action.

     We started this week off at the first of three meets we will have at Bellevue Golf Course, Sept. 20. Trenton Rickels was still recovering from the previous week and did not run. Our leader at Bellevue was Jayson Ruley with a time of 23:01. He was followed by Milo Smitha and Tristan Kunde with times of 24:01 and 24:23. Jay Bentley finished with a time of 25:51 and Bryce Rushford had a time of 31:55. Kaitlin Kunde finished with a time of 28:43.

     Anamosa meet was a nice, cool morning on Saturday, Sept. 25 with teams up and down Eastern Iowa. The boys team ran some of their best times. Trenton led with a time of 19:42. Milo had a season best time of 21:41. He was followed by Jayson who had a personal best of 21:49. Tristan ran a season best 22:08. Jay and Bryce ran with times of 25:24 and 26:15 respectively. Kaitlin also had her personal best time of 27:19.

     I talked to the boys afterwards that their times are dropping now, but we need to be more competitive as a team. We have a week off until we are back to Bellevue on Oct. 4, so plenty of time to get miles and speed training in.

 – Jon Eganhouse,

head coach

Football

     Midland played its Homecoming football game Sept. 24 in Wyoming, and lost 43-8 to Springville. The visiting Orioles scored 22 point in the second quarter to take a 28-8 halftime lead.

     Eagles quarterback Caden Ballou completed four of 10 passes for 36 yards. Ballou also rushed 21 times for 75 yards. Zain Sauer carried eight times for 53 yards and had Midland’s only touchdown, in the second quarter. Sauer also caught three passes for 32 yards.

     Defensively, Brayden Grau intercepted a Springville pass. Leading tacklers were Grau with six, Kaleb Westphal and Shayden Hansen with five apiece.

     Midland is 2-2 in district play, 2-4 overall.

Volleyball

     Midland played a pair of Tri-Rivers Conference, East Division volleyball matches last week, as well as the North Cedar Invitational.

     The Eagles (0-3, 2-26) started the week with a home match Sept. 21 against Cedar Valley Christian, which the host Eagles lost 23-25, 19-25, 11-25.

     “We were able to remain competitive in the first two sets, but our communication really broke down in the third set,” Midland coach Gennifer Schroeder said.

     Allison Paulsen had six kills and Gracie Franzen had for, and Franzen had 10 assists for Midland. Jaden Gatts had four blocks. Paulsen had five digs; Jayde Martin and Gracie Harrington had four each and Elizabeth Soper had three.

     In a Sept. 23 home match, Midland lost to Clinton Prince of Peace 14-25, 12-25, 16-25. Elizabeth Soper had seven digs, and Franzen made 16 assists. Anna Bartels and Bailie Uppena had five kills apiece.

     On Sept. 25, the Eagles played four matches in the North Cedar Invitational in Clarence. Midland opened against Springville, losing 2-21, 7-21. Allison Paulsen had three kills.

     Against Tipton, Midland fell 10-21, 11-21. Alexis Zaruba had two digs.

     The Eagles then faced Edgewood-Colesburg, and lost 7-21, 9-21. Emma Tracy collected seven digs, and Bartels had five assists.

     Midland then faced Durant in bracket play, and lost 11-25, 4-25. Allison Paulsen had three digs, and Gatts had two kills.

     “Against Tipton, Ed-Co and Durant, we had runs where we stayed competitive and gave those tougher teams a run for their money,” coach Schroeder said.