WINTERSET — Perry sent their full contingent of harriers to Tuesday’s Raccoon River Conference cross country meet, with Jayette sophomore Jaylene Karolus earning all-conference honors.
Karolus, a state qualifer last season, raced to seventh overall with a time of 19 minutes, 45 seconds to garner All-RRC recognition for the second consecutive season. She was followed, in team order, by Molly Lutmer (36th, 24:59), Kennedy Tunink (37th, 25:04), Cris Gomez (39th, 26:04) and Hannah Peterson (41st, 26:18). Hailey Peterson (42nd, 26:54) also ran for Perry.
The Jayettes were sixth of seven teams with 160 points, with top-ranked Ballard winning on 23 points as the Bombers scored places 2-3-4-6 and 8. WInterset edged 14th-ranked Carlisle, 81-82, for runner-up honors.
Sophomore Ainsley Erzen of Carlisle won the race in 18:56. Top-ranked Nate Mueller, a junior from ADM, won the boys race in 15:44.
Carlisle scored 2-3-4-8 and 10 as the second-ranked Wildcats won the boys varsity contest. Bondurant-Farrar (57) was second and Winterset (78) third, with Perry seventh of seven teams at 196.
Anthony Chavez led the Bluejays with a 22nd-place showing in 18:40. Bryan and Erick Funez were 39-44, in 19:40 and 21:16 respectively, for Perry, with Tanner Burgin and Chase Archer 45-46 in 21:44 and 22:07. Also running were Jayson Chavez (47th, 22:31) and Calvin Sass (48th, 24:30).
Perry does not have a girls junior varsity team, with the Bluejay JV seventh of seven at 210. Carlisle posted a perfect score of 15 to easily win the race.
Cole Nelson (21:45), Gannon Meis (23:01) and Jonathan Chavez (23:09) were 34-41-42 as the first three Perry finishers, with Orlando Gonzalez (46th, 27:13) and Sebastian Hernandez (47th, 27:59) also scoring. Dalton Scott (48th, 31:31) made the rounds as well.
Perry competed in both the boys and girls two-mile middle school races. Every runner involved was a seventh-grader save for Gavin Kerchival, the lone grade eight harrier in action for Perry.
Oscar Bellrand helped cement his reputation as an up-and-coming standout by winning the boys competition by more than 28 seconds with an 11:03 clocking.
Owen Myers (13:00), Reygan Girkins (13:45), and Aiden and Alec Burgin (14:31.2 and 14:31.7) were 37-54-58-59 for the Jays. Also on the course were Oscar Villalobos (62nd, 15:18) and Kerchival (15:22).
Quin Mahler-Moreno placed 15th for the Jayettes in 13:40, with Olivia Christensen crossing 39th in 14:41 and Julie Maylum 45th in 14:56. Amy Diaz (47th, 15:04) and Mercedes Ponce (53rd, 15:23) completed the Perry scoring, with Audrey Taggert (57th, 15:46) and Taryn Nehring (59th, 16:06) also competing.
