SAYDEL — The Perry cross country teams continued preparations for Thursday’s State Qualifying meet with a visit to the Saydel last-chance meet Oct. 15.
The Perry boys were 5th out of 10 teams in the varsity meet with 163 points. North Polk had runners finish 1-4-5 to win the meet with 33 points, with Ballard second at 87.
Dawit Adum led the Bluejays by placing 12th overall in 18 minutes, 41.39 seconds, with Morgan Holmstrom 17th in 18:50.06. Mario Cruz (43rd, 20:49.45), Emilio Gonzalez (44th, 20:51.45) and Bradley Godwin (47th, 20:54.97) also scored for the Jays. Gerardo Gonzalez (21:27.86) and Fernando Catalan (21:36.44) were also in the course for Perry.
North Polk dominated the girls varsity race as well, with 1-2-3-8-11 finishes totaling a strong 25-point effort. Ballard was second at 46 points, with Perry last among eight teams with 170 points.
Sophomore Grace Stewart provided a big highlight for the Jayettes with a sixth-place finish in 21:38, her best effort of the season.
Julissa Calderon (36th, 26:08.12), McKinley Thompson (37th, 26:24.59), Darian McCord (45th, 27:45.17) and Alejandra Rivera (27:56.06) had their places tabulated, with Jaky Casteneda (28:02.92) and Elva Tavarez (29:28.47) also running for the Jayettes.
No junior varsity races were held, but a pair of two-mile runs for the middle school boys and girls teams were contested.
Saydel won the boys race with 54 points, with Perry fifth of seven teams with 108 points.
Luis Guzman crossed in 13:07.61 to finish sixth overall for the Jays, with Chase Archer 14th in 13:49.49 and Emanuel Cardenas 18th in 14:15.64. Tony Burgos (34th, 14:46.55) and Hayden McFarland (36th, 14:55.48) completed the five scorers for Perry, with Kyle Lockwood (15:55.08) and Andrew Gallindo (16:27.7) also on the course.
North Polk’s 31 points won the girls MS race, with Perry placing seventh out of eight squads with 148 points.
Molly Lutmer came home 17th in 15:22.67 to pace the Jayettes. Also scoring were Hannah Peterson (23rd, 16:32.16), Sophia Prombo (25th, 16:58.5), Darien Westphal (35th, 17:22.64) and Alexis Martinez (48th, 19:09.73) while Angela Hernandez (19:13.86) and Taylor Eppert (21:09.46) did not have their finishing places calculated toward the team score.
Perry will compete Thursday in Glenwood in a varsity-only meet where the top 10 boys and top 10 girls will advance to the Oct. 31 state meet in Fort Dodge.
