HCHS cross country girls defend Hawkeye Ten title, boys nearly make it a Cyclone sweep
CRESTON (Oct. 17) -- Ten all-conference medalists, two individual runners-up, one team champion and nearly another. It was truly a good day to be a Cyclone at Thursday’s Hawkeye Ten Conference Cross Country Meet in Creston.
The Harlan Community girls harriers defended their team title with relative ease on the campus of Southwestern Community College and Crestmoor Golf Club, scoring a 40 to outrace second-place Glenwood (70), Creston (90), Atlantic (111) and Lewis Central (121).
The HCHS boys almost made it a team sweep, tying Lewis Central for the top score with an 83 but finishing second to the Titans based on the tiebreaker of each team’s sixth-best runner. Atlantic finished a close third with its 87 while St. Albert (110) took fourth. The Cyclones achieved their best H-10 finish since winning back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015. They placed fourth last year and fifth in 2017.
“What an outstanding effort,” said HCHS head coach Doug Renkly. “This is not an easy sport, but these boys have bought into the system and believe what is possible. They are coming together as a team at the right time."
One year after edging Glenwood by one point for first place, the fourth-ranked (3A) Cyclone girls left little doubt this time around with their 30-point victory. Led by senior Lucy Borkowski in second place and sophomore Kaia Bieker in third, HCHS placed all seven varsity girls in the top 20 to acheive all-conference status across the board.
“The motivation was very high for this group before the race,” Renkly said. “Everyone had something to prove. They wanted very much to retain the conference title... They did a great job of controlling the race in the first mile and executing their race plan. They had a tough uphill finish, but they ran with power to the finish.”
This year’s individual conference champs were Braelyn Baker of Creston in 19:29 and St. Albert’s Bennett Heisterkamp in 16:38. HCHS junior Trey Gross, who won last year’s Hawkeye Ten meet, placed second in just under 16:50. Senior Isaac Jones placed 10th (an improvement of 11 spots from last year) in 17:52.
It should also be noted that the HCHS junior varsity girls placed first Thursday with a perfect score of 15, led by Raegen Wicks in first place.
Hawkeye Ten Conf. Cross Country Meet • Thursday, Oct. 17 • at Creston
Girls Team Standings - 1. Harlan Community 40, 2. Glenwood 70, 3. Creston 90, 4. Atlantic 111, 5. Lewis Central 121, 6. Clarinda 179, 7. Shenandoah 180, 8. Red Oak 196, 9. Denison-Schleswig 201, 10. Kuemper Catholic 312.
Top 5 Individual Girls - 1. Braelyn Baker (Crest.), 19:29; 2. Lucy Borkowski (HCHS), 20:02; 3. Kaia Bieker (HCHS), 20:15; 4. Rachel Mullennax (Glen.), 20:20; 5. Paige Davis (Crest.), 20:21.
HCHS Individual Results - 2nd: Lucy Borkowski, 20:02.75; 3rd: Kaia Bieker, 20:15.87; 10th: Liv Freund, 20:48.11; 12th: Abby Alberti, 21:00.99; 13th: Brecken Van Baale, 21:04.02; 17th: Abi Albertsen, 21:21.11; 20th: Olivia Anderson, 21:42.06.
Boys Team Standings - 1. Lewis Central 83, 2. Harlan Community 83, 3. Atlantic 87, 4. St. Albert 110, 5. Red Oak 133, 6. Glenwood 137, 7. Kuemper Catholic 157, 8. Clarinda 182, 9. Denison-Schleswig 206, 10. Creston 264, 11. Shenandoah 269.
Top 5 Individual Boys - 1. Bennett Heisterkamp (St. Albert), 16:38; 2. Trey Gross (HCHS), 16:49; 3. Craig Alan Becker (Atl.), 17:09; 4. Connor Lancial (LC), 17:13; 5. Baylor Bergren (Red Oak), 17:32.
HCHS Individual Results - 2nd: Trey Gross, 16:49.97; 10th: Isaac Jones, 17:52.76; 20th: Brennon Munch, 18:19.53; 25th: Mitchell Rueschenberg, 18:24.18; 26th: Dalton Gross, 18:25.76; 47th: Kaiden Milliken, 19:20.44; 71st: Reed Boardman, 20:41.28.