MENLO — Class 2A fourth-ranked Panorama dominated the eight-team field at the Wildcat Invite Thursdsay, with all five Panther scorers placing inside the top 11. A total of 74 girls ran the 5K course.
The Panther boys placed sixth in their 11-team field with 159 points. Class 1A No. 2 Nodaway Valley edging 2A No. 13 Des Moines Christian for top honors. A total of 103 individuals competed in the race.
Sophomore Ella Waddle — ranked ninth in 2A after finishing as the 1A state meet runner-up last season — won the girls side in 19 minutes, 49.21 seconds. Freshman teammate Payton Beckman was second in 21:46.38 with sophomore twins Gwen (21:51.78) and Olivia (22:35.91) placing third and seventh, respectively, while senior Brooklyn Behrends was 11th overall in 23:15.57.
Freshman Leah Fett was 14th in 23:53 and senior Bryn Steffen 17th in 24:19.68 to complete the varsity seven.[wpedon id=”85410″ align=”left”]
Josh Baudler of Nodaway Valley, ranked ninth in 1A, won the boys race in 17:05.35. Loudon Foster of WCV was second in 17:15.62, with DMC’s Carson Houg third in 17:45.42.
Kevin Cogil (19:44.99), Levi Richey (19:48.36) and Noah Kirtley (19:56.39) were the top three finishers for the Panorama boys, crossing 24-26-27, respectively. Kade Kemble (20:57.17) was 39th and Declan McCarthy (26:34.12) 43rd to round out five scorers.
Avery Nelson was 46th in 21:48.37 and Jordan Wehmeyer 49th in 21:56.93 to cap the varsity septet.
Others running for the Panorama girls included Abby Cobb (24:23.37), Emily Smith (25:23), Chloe Webster (25:43.13), Angel Poldberg (27:10.27) and Jaelyn Waddle (27:17.03), while Alec Mills (22:14.97), Drew Hafner (23:16.53) and Paul Hansen (25:49.76) were also on the course for the Panther boys.
Both Panorama teams will return to action Thursday at Spring Lake State Park when they compete in the Greene County Invitational.
