If judging the success of the Perry cross country teams at the annual Leon Fox Invitational were based solely on when the individual harriers crossed the finish line, or the team score, then the hosts might have reason to despair.
However, if, like Bluejay head coach Jeff Fox and Jayette head coach Nathan Krohn, you were to judge the results based on individual improvement, Thursday’s meet at the Perry Golf and Country Club would have to be considered a rousing success.
While times for the varsity girls were not provided, Krohn said he was more than pleased with their efforts.
“The girls ran well,” he said. “I think all of them set personal records and I am proud that each of them was able to reach their individual goals. Now we look forward to our conference meet Oct. 12 at Boone.”
Fox was equally as proud of the effort put in by his Bluejays, noting that running on their home course had several benefits.
“You have the advantage of being on a course you know and understand,” he said. “That allows you to know when and where you can take advantage of whatever personal strengths you have.”
“Our course is also very fan friendly,” Fox added. “With the number of fans out there and the fact that they are pretty much all over the court it is hard to slack off, because somebody might be right there looking at them or encouraging them. I think that may have helped our kids run some of their best times.”
Top Jayette runner Grace Stewart was out with an injury, with Julissa Calderon, McKinley Thompson, Jacky Casteneda, Darian McCord and Alejandra Rivera placing for Perry in spots 69-70-71-72 and 75.
DC-G edged Ballard, 46-51, for the top girls varsity team spot, with Winterset (77) third while Perry was 12th (357) in the 12-team field.
Abby Kohut-Jackson of Ballard won the girls race, with Lexi Smith (DC-G), Sami Sterbenz (DC-G), Kaitlyn Murano (DC-G) and Rylan Santi (Madrid) rounding out the top five.
DC-G (50), Winterset (72) and Bondurant-Farrar (119) were the top three boys varsity team finishers, with Perry (267) 12th out of 13 squads.
Creston’s Cooper McDermott won the boys title in 16 minutes, 52.3 seconds, with Winterset’s Curtis Harryman two strides back at 16:54.92. Alex Thompson (DC-G, 17:04.65), Carson Polich (MAD, 17:08.69) and Nick Swift (B-F, 17:10) were 3-4-5.
Dawit Adum (28th, 18:32.55), Morgan Holmstrom (33rd, 18:43.55), Mario Cruz (58th, 19:48.27), Bradley Godwin (73rd, 20:47.27) and Emilio Gonzalez (75th, 20:50.03) scored for the Bluejays, with Fernando Catalan (21:00.4) and Jacob Prombo (21:22.64) also running for the hosts.
The Perry girls did not have the five required runners to score an official junior varsity score, with Ballard (18), DC-G (41) and Creston (87) taking the top spot in a seven-team contest.
Elva Tavarez (29:27.79), Andrea Cortez (31:13.72), Kat Munoz (33:04.44) and Alondra Avila (35:38.85) ran for the Jayette JV.
DC-G (15), Ballard (61) and B-F (99) grabbed the top three boys JV team spots, with Perry (266) 10th out of 12 teams.
Gerardo Gonzalez (42nd, 21:25.71), Kiza Ndume (48th, 22:13.02), Crayton Pattison (55th, 22:39.1), Aaron Lockwood (59th, 23:18.17) and Miguel Gonzalez (62nd, 23:29.53) scored for the Bluejay JV. Others making the circuit for Perry were Brody Kimrey (24:48.98), Luke Pfau (24:57.13), Brandon Ruiz (26:24.18), Ben Stika (27:02.97), Zach Mills (27:14.89), Bladimir Roldan (27:25.33) and Roger Jacobson (27:46.05).
While high school harriers run a 5k course (3.1 miles), middle school races are limited to two miles. The Perry girls placed eighth in a nine-team field with 205 points, but had the best individual finish of any Perry runner when Molly Lutmer crossed eighth overall in 14:34.55.
Hannah Peterson (36th, 16:18.11), Sophia Prombo (52nd, 17:49.79), Darien Westphal (18:00.31) and Alexis Martinez (18:30.24) completed the five Perry scorers. Angela Hernandez (19:41.61), Amy McNamara (20:04.02), Taylor Eppert (21:31.29), Bree Martin (21:39.45) and Bailey Piper (22:56.21) were also on the course for Perry.
Ballard (32), Creston (77) and DC-G (87) were the top trio of girls middle school teams, with the boys middle school top three squads featuring Ballard (52), DC-G (78) and B-F (79), with Perry (174) eighth in a nine-team race.
Luis Guzman was 15th for the Jays in 13:17.05, with Chase Archer 23rd in 13:40.8 while Tony Burgos (40th, 14:34.36), Hayden McFarland (42nd, 14:49.13) and Andrew Galindo (54th, 15:56.85) also scored. Kyle Lockwood (16:31.82), Collin Malmberg (16:47.59) and Calvin Sass (16:51.67) competed for Perry as well.
Among all three levels a total of 346 boys and 250 girls ran the grounds at the PG&CC.
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