PANORA — The annual Panther Invite was held at the Lake Panorama Par 3 Golf Course Thursday.
Des Moines Christian won the boys side with 72 points, with AC/GC second at 74 and Earlham third at 102. The girls team honors went to Clarinda (71), with Van Meter (87) edging DMC (88) for second place. Neither Panorama team had the minimum of five runners required to create a team score.
“I feel we compete well and gave it our best effort, but the race times didn’t reflect that,” Panther head coach Greg Thompson said. “I feel like the training the last few weeks may have worn on the team, so we will back off a little bit during practice to help them re-gain some energy and freshness.”
Landon Goodenberger was the first Panther boy to finish, crossing in 22 minutes, 47 seconds. He was followed by Ryan McCarthy (23:28), Avery Norman (24:46), and Laine Christe (28:13).
Payton Beckman (24:58), Leah Fett (27:49), and Avery Bahrenfus (29:07) completed the circuit for the host girls varsity.
Madrid (33), Van Meter (37), Panorama (80), DMC (86), and Greene County (113) posted team scores in the girls junior high race.
Mary Fett was sixth overall for the Panthers in 15:36, with Jamie Fronapfel (20th, 17:33), Laicey Richey (25th, 17:51), Maggie McCarthy (28th, 18:21), and Ella Cerico (29th, 18:24) scoring for the home team as well. Also in action was Kyle Rochholz (37th, 19:30).
Austin Wetzel (21:20) was the lone Panther harrier to run in the boys junior high race.
“I still believe in our potential,” Thompson said. “We still have time to get things figured out so we are peaking in the middle of October. We just need to have faith in the training and sacrifices we have to make to make sure our bodies are as healthy as possible.”
