MENLO — The Woodward-Granger cross country teams traveled west to the 5×80 Golf Course Thursday, with the links serving as the setting for the West Central Valley Invitational.
The W-G boys placed eighth in the 10-team varsity race, with AC/GC (49 points) and Panorama (68) — ranked fourth and fifth, respectively, in Class 1A — placing 1-2 in the squad standings. Ogden (76) was third, with Earlham (93), WCV (109), Woodward Academy (121), Ankeny Christian Academy (185), W-G (248), IKM-Manning (251) and Van Meter (263) rounding out the field.
Class 2A No. 2 Andrew Stumbo of Ogden was the overall medalist in 15 minutes, 48.86 seconds, with WCV’s Rylan Hefferman second in 16:28.55 while AC/GC’s Cale Billheimer third in 16:49.19.
Chandler Cavanaugh and Cody Garland led W-G by placing 43rd and 45th in 18:54.89 and 18:57.77, respectively. Alex Bice was 51st in 19:32.59, Hunter Pierce 52nd in 19:35.69 and Kaya Bowlsby 57th in 20:01.71. Luke Brittain crossed in 20:02.37 but did not have his placing used for the team score.
Tenth-ranked AC/GC upset No. 6 Panorama, 53-59, to win the girls varsity meet. Earlham, ranked 12th, was third with 68 points, with WCV (94), Ogden (99) and W-G (128) completing the list of squads with the five runners required to generate an official team score.
Kate Crawford and Emma Swanson of AC/GC were 1-2, in 19:22.15 and 19:40.62. The duo is ranked 10th and 16th in Class 1A.
Josie Noland was the swiftest Hawk, crossing 17th in 22:41.59. Kaitlyn Peters was less than a stride behind, placing 18th in 22:41.82, while Regan Kaufman (24th, 23:31.03), Natalie Helbling (33rd, 24:56.1) and Savannah David (36th, 25:10.42) also ran the course for W-G.
A two-mile middle school race was also held, with Lucas Hansen (19:00.32) the lone W-G boy to finish while Katie Grell (16:09.43), MaKenzie Dresback (16:40.44), Sydney Grell (16:54.75) and Kaitlyn Smith (18:58.85) ran for the Hawk girls.
W-G was scheduled to run today (Monday) at the Nodaway Valley Invitational. They will then be off until visiting the Panora Par-3 Golf Course in Panorama for the West Central Conference meet Oct. 13.
