PANORA — The Woodward-Granger girls were seventh and the W-G boys ninth in Thursday’s WCAC cross country meet.
Host and Class 2A third-ranked Panorama won the girls race with 40 points, with Earlham a close second at 44 while W-G was seventh among nine teams with 159 points.
Fifth-rated Ella Waddle of Panorama was first in 18 minutes, 4.03 seconds. Class 1A No. 5 and defending state champ Katie Crawford of AC/GC was second in 19:05.75, with Panorama’s Payton Beckman third in 20:27.05.
Josie Noland led the Hawk girls by finishing 20th in 21:59.02 while Natalie Helbling was 29th in 22:28.66. Ava Petersen (33rd, 22:46.67), Katie Grell (37th, 23:11.57) and Kaitlyn Smith (40th, 23:31.35) also scored for W-G, with Chloe David (41st, 23:37.41) and Sydney Grell (46th, 24:23.07) also in action for the varsity. Bella Milosevich and AnnaMae Hanson also made the circuit for the Hawks.
Class 1A No. 1 Madrid won the boys title with 38 points, with Des Moines Christian second at 76 and Earlham third at 95 with W-G ninth among 12 teams with 257 points.
Madrid’s top-ranked Sean McDermott won the race in 15:57.72, with AC/GC’s Noah Nelsen, rated ninth, in 16:28.57. WCV’s Louden Foster, ranked 19th, placing third in 16:33.82.
Trevor Faltonson’s 17:42.81 was the top W-G placer (26th) with Dylan Steele crossing in 18:23.67 (49th) while Caleb Jones finished in 18:32.26 (52nd). Noah Gleason was 61st in 19:29.06 and Nick Buch 69th in 20:12.2 to cap the varsity scoring. Although not having their places tabulated, Kurt Crouse (70th, 20:15.84) and Alex Foster (74th, 20:31.98) also ran for the varsity.
Logan Roll, Joel Harney, Asher Little, Noah Hoyt and Andrew Anderson were the top five finishers for the Hawk boys junior varsity.
Two-mile junior high races for both boys and girls harries were also held.
Earlham won the girls event with 33 points, with Van Meter’s Clare Kelly the top finisher in 11:45.85.
W-G had only four female entrants and thus did not create a team score. Libby Grell (14:41.71), Ella Bearbauer (16:10.18), Claire Praska (19:28.22) and Gabby Griffon (22:15) ran for the Hawks. All four are seventh-grade students.
Ogden’s 38 points won the boys competition, with W-G seventh of seven with 153 points. Madrid’s Ethan Loutzenheiser was the overall victor in 11:26.28.
Healey Hill (23rd, 13:20.57) and Aiden Toplovich (24th, 13:24.27) were the first two W-G placers, with Dillon Limoges (33rd, 14:02.16), Ryan Fitch (35th, 14:11.92) and Landon Bogardus (38th, 14:35.87) also scored team points. Sawyer Genkinger (40th, 14:40.84) and Starling Parkinson (44th, 16:04.94) were also in action, as were Samuel Sejnoha (16:09.29) and Mason Dorenkamp (16:17.6). Hill, Fitch, Bogardus and Dorenkamp are in eighth grade, the others in grade seven.
W-G will visit AC/GC Thursday for a Class 1A State Qualifying meet. A total of 30 teams will compete in Guthrie Center. The top two teams and top 15 individuals will advance to the state meet Oct. 27 in Fort Dodge.
