MENLO — Every so often an athletic team will turn in a superlative performance that even the most demanding of coaches have to applaud. Such was the case for the Panorama cross country team during Thursday’s WCV Invitational at the 5×80 Golf Course.
“I was very pleased with the race results,” Panther head coach Greg Thompson said. “I thought the kids would run fast, but I didn’t quite expect these times. Thirty-nine of the 45 kids that ran set a new personal best, either for the season or the course, and 28 of those were lifetime bests.”
“It was a very hard week of practice, but the kids looked strong,” he added. “We plan to have one more hard week of practice before starting to rest and recover as we prepare for the conference and state-qualifying meets.”
Class 1A No. 4 AC/GC edged No. 5 Panorama, 49-68, for the top honors in the boys varsity race. Ogden was third at 76 and Earlham fourth at 93, with WCV (109), Woodward Academy (121), Ankeny Christian Academy (185), Woodward-Granger (248), IKM-Manning (251) and Van Meter (263) completing a field that had 111 runners.
Andrew Stumbo of Ogden, who is rated second in Class 2A, with the boys winner in 15 minutes, 48.96 seconds. Class 1A No. 11 Rylan Hefferman of WCV was second in 16:28.55, with AC/GC’s Cale Billheimer third in 16:49.19.
Panther scorers placed 6-7-9-17 and 29, with Danny Nordquist leading the way in 17:10.13. Mitch Wagler (17:12.16), Josh Carstens (17:15.03), George Appleseth (17:41.09) and Sam Webster (18:19.12) rounded out the five points-earning spots, with Tyler VanHouten (18:34.98) and Kaleb Randel (18:56.44) also running for the varsity.
Austin Behrends (19:14.73), Erik Olsen (19:33.77), Bryant Thompson (20:02.58), Drew Hafner (20:36.17) and Tanner Kuta (20:54.02) were the top five for the boys junior varsity, with Jared Stagg (21:44.27), Lucas Wasson (21:47.08) and Colton Stogdill (21:59.44) also on the course.
A total of 63 girls ran in the ladies varsity/JV event, with Kate Crawford (1A No. 10) and Emma Swanson (1A No. 16) of AC/GC finishing 1-2 in 19:22.15 and 19:40.62, with Eva Fisk of Earlham third in 19:52.63.
AC/GC, ranked 10th, was the winner with 53 points, with sixth-ranked Panorama second at 59 while 12th-rated Earlham was third at 68. WCV (94), Ogden (99) and W-G (128) completed the field.
Panorama’s Brianna Hoffman (1A No. 19) was fourth overall in 20:04.58 with Devyn Kemble fifth in 20:23.82. Chloe Webster (15th, 22:37.94), Brooklyn Behrends (16th, 22:40.52) and Lydia Lindstrom (19th, 22:43.09) also scored, while Emily Smith (22:43.83) and Lydia Knapp (23:17.68) did not have their places tabulated.
Bryn Steffen (23:48.25), Maggie Smith (23:59.39), Maddie Knapp (24:35.83), Maisie Knapp (25:01.7) and Anna Holloway (26:16.49) ran for the Panther JV, as did Mallorie Pittman (26:47.32).
A two-mile middle school race was also held, with IKM-Manning winning on 35 points while the Panther boys were fourth with 90 points while the Panorama girls dominated their race to win with 26 points.
Logan Christie (16:44.75), Paul Hansen (16:47.61), Kevin Cogil (16:47.94), Alec Mills (16:55.14) and Avery Norman (17:32.64) placed 16-20, respectively, for the Panorama boys.
Eleven Panorama girls navigated the course, with Panthers placing 1-2-4-7 and 12. Scoring were Ella Waddle (13:10.94), Angel Poldberg (13:48.6), Gwen Steffen (14:31.13), Laci Rishel (15;10.3) and Olivia Steffen (15:55.53), with Grace Webner (16:04.8) and Abby Cobb (16:16) completing the top seven. Abbi Holloway (17:47.32), Gracie Phillips (17:59.27), Kinsey Muyskens (18:28.22) and Rachel Marwadel (18:44.22) also competed for the Panthers.
Panorama will travel to Jewell for the South Hamilton Invitational Thursday.
“We are anticipating some good races next week as we will be competing against a large field made up mostly of 2A and 3A schools,” Thompson said.
