Wet weather moved the annual Leon Fox Invitational from Thursday to Tuesday at the Perry Golf and Country Club, and the hosts and their guests could not have asked for better conditions.
Mild temperatures and sunny skies, with only a slight south wind, made for an excellent running atmosphere for the 475 harriers who took to the course in five different races.
Ballard dominated the girls varsity race (the girls junior varsity was held at the same time) with a winning score of 20. Winterset was second at 82 and Creston third at 95 with Perry eight of 10 teams at 180. The Jayettes had tied Denison-Schleswig for seventh with twin scores of 180, but the sixth Monarch runner crossed 53rd and sixth Jayettes 69th, giving D-S the tiebreaker.
Shawaye Johnson and Paityn Noe of Ballard claimed the top two spots, in 19 minutes, 52 seconds and 20:06, respectively, with Creston’s Braelyn Baker third in 20:31.
Perry sophomore Jaylene Karolus crossed seventh overall, in 21:11, to lead the hosts. She was followed by Kennedy Tunink (36th, 24:56), Molly Lutmer (38th, 25:04), Hannah Peterson (43rd, 25:21) and Hailey Peterson (56th, 27:12), with Montserrat Gonzalez (69th, 39:02) also running.
Bondurant-Farrar (43), Newton (63) and Ballard (87) were 1-2-3 in the boys varsity race, with Perry 10th of 10 at 265.
Newton’s Jackson Mace-Maynard, Winterset’s Wynn Yeager and Newton’s Treycan Garton made for a thrilling finish, placing in the top three in 17:52, 17:54 and 17:56.
Anthony Chavez and Bryan Funez were 32-39 to pace Perry, crossing in 19:22 and 19:44. Hayden McFarland (61st, 20:53), Tanner Burgin (66th, 21:34) and Erick Funez (67th, 21:41) also scored, while Calvin Sass (68th, 22:02) made the circuit as well.
The boys JV race went to B-F at 33 points, with Perry ninth of 10 at 255. Blake Lebeck of Roland-Story won in 19:04.
Jayson Chavez (21:31), Chase Archer (21:50), Gannon Meis (22:47), Orlando Gonzalez (25:35) and Sergio Gonzalez (27:08) were 36-44-50-61 and 64 to account for the Perry scoring. Also running were Sebastian Hernandez (67th, 28:32) and Dalton Scott (68th, 32:40).
ADM’s 27 points won the boys two-mile middle school race, with the hosts fifth of seven at 120.
Seventh-grader Oscar Bellrand of Perry was the overall victor, finishing in 12:24 to claim the title by a 40-second margin.
Owen Myers (19th, 14:22), Garrett Winey (29th, 15:18), Alec Burgin (35th, 16:12) and Reygan Girkins (36th, 16:16) were the other Bluejay scorers. Aiden Burgin (41st, 16:50) and Oscar Villalobos (43rd, 17:29) completed the top seven.
A total of 55 points allowed ADM to win the girls middle school competition, with the home team sixth of seven at 117. Ballard’s Avelyn Vance won in 14:11.
Perry seventh grader Quin Mahler-Moreno placed fifth, in 15:01, to lead the Jayettes. Julie Maylum was 25th in 16:34, Olivia Christensen 28th in 16:52, Mercedes Ponce 29th in 17:03 and Isabella Burgus 30th in 17:10 for the Perry point scorers. Completing the top seven were Amy Diaz (31st, 17:45) and Stacey Martinez (39th, 17:52).
Perry will run in Saydel Thursday before concluding their regular season Tuesday at the Raccoon River Conference meet, which will be hosted by ADM.
