Posted on

Comet runners drop times at Algona XC Invitational

Press photo by John Burbridge Charles City junior Mason Deeter, pictured on the left while competing at a meet in Cedar Falls, recorded a personal-best time of 17 minutes, 13 seconds at Tuesday’s Algona Invitational while helping the Comets place third as a team.
Press photo by John Burbridge
Charles City junior Mason Deeter, pictured on the left while competing at a meet in Cedar Falls, recorded a personal-best time of 17 minutes, 13 seconds at Tuesday’s Algona Invitational while helping the Comets place third as a team.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

ALGONA — On Tuesday, the temperatures finally dropped into the seasonal range.

And during the Algona Cross Country Invitational at River Road Golf Club, 5K times posted by Charles City runners dropped to where they collectively reached seasonal-best range.

“A stellar night,” was the assessment from Comet head girls coach Amanda Rahmiller after her team placed 7 points behind Class 3A No. 3-ranked Humboldt for runner-up status.

“Our efforts were commendable and the girls executed our plan,” Rahmiller said. “I couldn’t ask for anything more out of them.”

Humboldt’s Bryce Gidel was the varsity girls champion with a time of 19 minutes, 17 seconds.

Charles City freshman Kiki Connell finished runner-up (19:40) just ahead of junior teammate Whitney Martin (19:42), who placed third.

Mackenzy Bilharz (7th 20:31), Gillian King (17th 21:19) and Mariah McKenzie (28th 21:53) rounded out the place scorers for Charles City.

“Both of (Connell’s and Martin’s) performances were within four seconds of their personal-bests,” Rahmiller said. “Mackenzy Bilharz stepped up and ran yet another smart second half of her race to move from around the 15th position to 7th.”

Bilharz finished under the 21-minute mark for the first time this season.

Rahmiller said that King — the fourth Comet in — ran the best race she’s seen of her on a cross country course.

“Right from the start (King) put herself in the position we needed her to be in,” Rahmiller said. “This was a totally different race strategy that she’s been accustomed to but it paid off.”

The Comet boys finished third — two points (75-77) behind runner-up Humboldt.

Clear Lake won the varsity boys meet with 64 points as the Lions were paced by Sam Pedelty, who finished a distant second to North Union’s Riley Bauer — Bauer’s winning time of 16:09.42 was nearly a half-second faster than his Class 1A state-winning time last year.

Three-time state-qualifier Gavin Connell was the first Comet in with a seventh-place time of 17:09.

Comet junior Mason Deeter placed eighth with a personal-best time of 17:13.

Rounding out Charles City’s scoring placers were Nick Litterer (14th 17:38), Antwone Cooper (21st 17:57) and Hayden Pleggenkuhle (30th 18:30).

Freshman Cooper and sophomore Pleggenkuhle both recorded personal-best times, as did the Comets’ sixth runner — Zack Graeser — whose time of 18:33 was a whopping 52-second improvement over his previous personal-best.

“We have seven consistent varsity runners who are able to run sub-19,” Charles City boys varsity coach Ryan Rahmiller said. “Moreover, the work ethic, camaraderie and attitudes on this team are in the right place to do some big things as a team at the end of the season.”

Charles City won both the junior varsity boys and girls races.

In the girls race, Selah Opp and Libbie McKeag finished 1-2 for the Comets with respective times of 22:34 and 22:41.

For Opp, it was her first high school XC win.

Charles City had nine JV girl medalists (Opp, McKeag, Mindi Neve, Brianna Ross, Brynn Parks, Astrid Hernandez, Lydia Thompson and Rylie Patrie).

In the boys JV race, the Comets had eight medalists (John Perez, Phillip Bachman, Aaron Jensen, Isaak Jensen, Cameron Kakac, Cole Reams and Josiah Carr).

“I was most impressed by their spread,” Ryan Rahmiller said of his top five JV boys who finished within 25 seconds from the first runner in to the fifth runner in.

“This is a young, hard-working group of boys who are the future of the program.”

Algona Invitational

Sept. 26

At River Road Golf Course

Varsity Boys 5K Race

TEAM RESULTS

1. Clear Lake 64, 2. Humboldt 75, 3. Charles City 77, 4. Okoboji 161, 5. Webster City 188, 6. Algona 188, 7. Spirit Lake 212, 8. 51301 224, 9. Forest City 229, 10. Eagle Grove 243, 11. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 243, 12. Fort Dodge 282, 13. Emmetsburg 317, 14. St. Edmond 388, 15. West Bend-Mallard 432, 16. Estherville 440, 17 Pocahontas Area 470.

TOP 20 FINISHERS

1. Riley Bauer (North Union) 16:09, 2. Sam Pedelty (CL) 16:42, 3. Trey Engen (A) 16:51, 4. Joseph Kunert (H) 16:52, 5. Quinton Orr (H) 16:55, 6. Eric Faught (CL) 17:01, 7. Gavin Connell (CC) 17:09, 8. Aidan Bauermeister (SL) 17:11, 9. Mason Deeter (CC) 17:13, 10. Cruz Bowman (E) 17:14, 11. Ethan Albright (O) 17:20, 12. Denny Pederson (H) 17:31, 13. Tyler Bultena (WC) 17:32, 14. Nick Litterer (CC) 17:38, 15. Taylor Myers (E) 17:39, 16. Ike Branstad (CL) 17:40, 17. Justin Wright (CL) 17:43, 18. Jon Koester (EG) 17:44, 19. Jed Tracy (SE) 17:49, 20. Devon Coon (H) 17:56.

CHARLES CITY POINT PLACERS

6. Connell, 8. Deeter, 13. Litterer, 20. Antwone Cooper 17:57, 31. Hayden Pleggenkuhle 18:20.

Varsity Girls 5K Race

TEAM RESULTS

1. Humboldt 50, 2. Charles City 57, 3. 51301 83, 4. St. Edmond 170, 5. Emmetsburg 175, 6. Okoboji 197, 7. Algona 204, 8. Spirit Lake 207, 9. Forest City 242, 10. Fort Dodge 256, 11. Estherville 263, 12. Clear Lake 272, 13. Bishop Garrigan 316, 14. Webster 383, 15. West Bend-Mallard 395.

TOP 20 FINISHERS

1. Bryce Gidel (H) 19:17, 2. Kiki Connell (CC) 19:40, 3. Whitney Martin (CC) 19:42, 4. Gabby Kent (H) 20:08, 5. Raven Brown (Em) 20:23, 6. Magan Christopherson (O) 20:27, 7. Mackenzy Bilharz (CC) 20:31, 8. Kourtney Delperdang (SL) 20:33, 9. Morgan Roberts (5) 20:38, 10. Jenna Morey (5) 20:43, 11. Lauren Erickson (H) 20:46, 12. Mari Stein (O) 20:48, 13. Elisa Fisher (5) 20:55, 14. Isabella Luu (H) 21:07, 15. Abby Landwehr (SE) 21:12, 16. Gabby Estlund (FD) 21:14, 17. Gillian King (CC) 21:14, 18. Gretchen Jones (CL) 21:23, 19. Gabrielle Janssen (Em) 21:32, 20. Madeleine Ruzicka (H) 21:35.

CHARLES CITY POINT PLACERS

2. Connell, 3. Martin, 7. Bilharz, 17. King, 28. Mariah McKenzie 21:53.

Social Share

LATEST NEWS