AMES — The Gilbert Invite was the season opening event for a wide range of teams from across Central Iowa Thursday, with the Iowa State University course serving as the venue.
Though undergoing renovations that substantially flattened the normal route, the course still proved demanding, especially as the opening test for the 2017 campaign.
Gilbert won the boys side with 45 points, with DC-G second at 51 and Nevada third at 66 while Perry was 11th of 13 at 324 points. DC-G scored 37 points to win the girls race, with North Polk second at 40 and Gilbert third at 49 while Perry was 11th at 278.
Zachary Thompson was 44th to lead the Bluejays, crossing in 18 minutes, 50.49 seconds. Eli Noble was 66th in 18:51.4 and Eduardo Sanchez 67 in 18:51.42, with Zach Stewart (73rd, 18:51.22) and Mario Cruz (74th, 18:52.22) also scoring for the Jays.
Aaron Lockwood (80th, 18:53.04) and Ben Stika (82nd, 18:53.23) also ran for the Perry boys varsity. Though the gap in finishers from Thompson to Stika was 38 places, only 2.34 seconds separated the first Bluejay finisher to the final.
Grace Stewart was 17th in 23:16 to pace the Jayettes, with Hannah Peterson 47th in 26:34. Angela Hernandez (69th, 29:49), Sophie Prombo (70th, 30:10) and Darian McCord (75th, 33.24) closed the Perry scoring, with Taylor Eppert (76th, 34:01) also running for the Jayette varsity.
Rees Tyler of Gilbert was the overall boys winner in 18:47.36, with Nevada’s Malachi Hornbuckle (18:47.42) and DC-G’s Jacob Waymire (18:47.5) finishing second and third, respectively.
Amelia Lasher of North Polk broke the tape in 20:53 as the first girl finisher, with Emma Angus (21:34) of DC-G second and Allison Weiler (21:36) of Gilbert third overall.
Perry is off until Sept. 5 when they visit Winterset. They will then compete for the second time in three days with a trip to the Greene County Invite Sept. 7.
