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Jesup Invitational yields many good individual times for Warrior runners
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Lukas Friedlein (left) and Breckon Holst race for Central in the 5K boys race at the Jesup Invitational. (Photo by Bev Hamann)

The Central cross country teams faced a stacked field at the Sept. 29 Jesup Invitational—on a course assistant coach Martha Bauder said is typically one of the fastest meets of the season.

“The rainy conditions made for a slight deviation from that tendency, but overall, we did have many good individual times by our runners,” she said. “Our team finish in the boys was competitive—13th of 25 full teams and third among the 1A teams— while the girls were 20th of 23 full teams and ninth out of the 1A teams.”

Jesse Polkinghorn and Cade Zittergruen led the Warrior boys, placing a respective 44th and 46th with times of 18:49 and 18:50. That was a career best for Zittergruen. Tyce Zittergruen completed the varsity race in a course best 19:32, which was good for 73rd. Oliver Holdsworth came in 124th on a time of 20:43, while Cruz Healy rounded out the team score with a 130th place time of 20:54.

Breckon Holst was 138th in 21:00, followed by Lukas Friedlein and Keagan Sylvester in spots 140 and 141, after posting times of 21:01—a course best for Friedlein. Keegan Sperfslage placed 165th at 22:02 and Griffin Koehn was 211th at 25:44.

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Lilly Becwar ran a course and season best time of 26:38 at the Jesup Invitational on Sept. 29. (Photo by Bev Hamann)

In the girls race, Blair Scherf was Central’s top runner. She crossed the finish line in a course best 21:55, landing her in 59th place. Hadley Mueller followed in 87th, posting a time of 22:57, and Payton Stannard ranked 109th with a course best time of 23:39. Harper Bennington ran the course in 25:21, putting her in 160th, while Anya Whittle took 172nd on a time of 25:50.

Other Warriors scores included Lilly Becwar 178th in 26:38, which were course and season bests for her, then Hannah Friedlein 180th in a season best 26:44. Claire Orr was 206th in 29:01 and Tenley Meyer 215th in 32:11—a career best.

With only two regular season meets left before district action on Oct. 22, Bauder said the Warriors are working toward competing well on a fast course at South Winn on Oct. 6, then repeating as Upper Iowa Conference small division conference champions on Thursday, Oct. 15, at North Fayette Valley.