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Weather doesn’t thwart Central runners at conference meet
Hannah Friedlein_10/21
Hannah Friedlein placed 36th in the JV race on Oct. 16, helping Central win the Upper Iowa Conference title in the small school division. - photo by Audrey Posten

Wet conditions postponed the Upper Iowa Conference cross country meet from Thursday, Oct. 15 to Friday, Oct. 16—a day that offered cool, windy conditions. Runners could have been off their mark as a result, said Central assistant coach Martha Bauder, “but overall our runners had a very successful day.”

“The girls team especially came away with great results for themselves. They were able to repeat as conference champions of the small school division for varsity and then also this year in the JV race,” she added. “The girls also had 12 runners with either a career best or course best on the day.”

Blair Scherf medaled for the Warriors in the girls varsity race, placing 20th with a career best time of 21:45. Hadley Mueller turned in a result of 23:03 for 31st place, while Payton Stannard and MacKenna Fisher crossed the finish line a respective 41st and 42nd with times of 23:49 and 23:50. Emersyn Wiley completed the race in 24:19, which was good for 48th, and Harper Bennington was close behind in 50th with a time of 24:32. Anya Whittle posted a 26:39 for 57th place. Those times were career bests for Wiley and Bennington and course bests for Stannard, Fisher and Whittle.

Lilly Becwar led Central in the JV field, a time of 26:42 ranking her 27th. Hannah Friedlein followed in 36th with a time of 27:42, then Tenley Meyer, Mya Gregerson and Claire Orr filled spots 44, 46 and 47. Meyer’s time was 30:28, while Gregerson posted a 30:57 and Orr 32:25. The times were course bests for Becwar, Friedlein, Gregerson and Orr, as well as a career topper for Meyer.

The boys, too, had a good number of course and careers bests.

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The boys JV race was highlighted by a 21:54 by Keagan Sylvester, earning him 15th place and a ribbon. - photo by Audrey Posten

“The JV boys repeated as conference champions while the varsity boys were the conference runner-up team,” Bauder said.

Cade Zittergruen and Jesse Polkinghorn both medaled in the boys varsity race, thanks to 11th and 15th place finishes. Zittergruen did it in 18:49 and Polkinghorn 19:03—both course bests. Tyce Zittergruen completed the course in 19:46, earning him 27th place and a course best. Cruz Healy ran a course best 20:01 for 32nd. Oliver Holdsworth and Keegan Sperfslage finished 41st and 46th with respective times of 20:22 and 20:48, including a career best for Sperfslage, then Lucas Friedlein was 50th at 20:56.

The boys JV race was highlighted by a 21:54 by Keagan Sylvester, earning him 15th place and a ribbon. Arthur Thiese and Ayce Clark crossed 25th and 29th with runs of 23:46 and 24:41, while Bently Banks was 32nd at 25:42 and Griffin Koehn 33rd at 25:43. The times included a career best for Banks and course bests fro Thiese and Sylvester.

Next up for Central is the Class 1A district/state qualifying meet at Luther College on Thursday, Oct. 22.