MENLO — A pair of dominating team performances highlighted Thursday’s West Central Valley Invitational at the 5 x 80 Golf Course.
The top-ranked Nodaway Valley boys swept the top five scoring spots for a perfect score of 15 for an easy win in the second race, with the Panorama girls finishing 1-2-3-5-7 in easily winning the first contest.
“I thought the girls would run well,” Panorama head coach Greg Thompson said. “Our goal was to have six in the top 10 and we came close. They looked confident and competed very well. Brianna Hoffman looked good as she is still dealing with a lower back injury.”
Ella Waddle won the girls side in 20 minutes, 24.33 seconds, with Devyn Kemble second in 21:16.8 and Hoffman third in 22:16.62. Panther freshmen Gwen and Olivia Steffen were 5-7 in 22:38.09 and 23:34.03 to create the score of 18. Also running for the varsity were Brooklyn Behrends (11th, 24:11.98) and Lydia Knapp (14th, 24:29.72).
Panorama had nine other entrants, with Bryn Steffen (24:45.66), Lydia Lindstrom (25:04.46) and Jaelyn Waddle (25:38.48) leading the way. Abby Cobb (26:07.08), Shey Storesund (26:16.34), Emily Smith (26:21.01), Chloe Webster (26:46.42), Maddie Knapp (27:36.27) and Maisie Knapp (30:03.8) were also in action.
Greene County was second in the girls team standing with 55 points, with WCV third at 89, Nodaway Valley fourth at 93 and Exira-Elk Horn/Kimballton fifth at 110.
Evan Wilson of E-EK won the boys race in 16:30.93, but without the five required runners, no points were awarded. Nodaway Valley then finished second through sixth, scoring 1-2-3-4-5 points for a perfect sweep.
Panorama was second at 69, with Martensdale-St. Marys third (105), while Ankeny Christian Academy (116), WCV (132), Interstate-35 (134) and Greene County (145) completing the boys field.
“The boys also looked much better than last week,” Thompson said. “Anytime you face a number one ranked team (Nodaway Valley) it can be hard to compete and run well knowing they will take a lot of individual medals and top places. Our top four seniors handled that well, as they should because of their experience.”
“Levi Richey, Emry Colby and Erik Olsen also continue to improve,” he added. “I think their development over the next couple of weeks will be exciting.”
Josh Carstens and Danny Nordquist were right behind the Wolverines, crossing sixth and seventh in 18:10.98 and 18:24.47, respectively. Sam Webster was 16th in 19:38.97, Kaleb Randel 18th in 19:44.06 and Richey 22nd in 20:30.63. Also running — but not scoring — for the varsity were Colby (21:48.73) and Olsen (21:59.61).
Seven Panthers also saw action, with Colton Stogdill (22:37.94) and Noah Kirtley (22:54.39) leading the pack. Lucas Wasson (23:17.57), Paul Hansen (24:17.34), Logan Christe (24:24.17), Drew Hafner (25:56.31) and Brady Howard (36.29.42) navigated the course as well.
Panorama returns to action Thursday with a visit to the Greene County Invitational.
