By Coach Kevin Gartman
MARSHALLTOWN – Elise Boulton ran her way to the state meet for the third time in three years.
She and her Bravettes teammates placed seventh, their highest regional finish since inception of the 5K format.
This took place Thursday, Oct. 24, as cross country teams converged on Marshalltown for the state qualifying meet.
Racing first, the Montezuma girls faced off in a highly competitive race featuring three teams ranked in the top ten as well as three others teams who also made recent appearances in the Class 1A top 10 rankings.
Elise Boulton finished ninth overall for the Bravettes with a 21:00.
Freshman Madison Johannes finished 42nd, freshman Mia Boulton 47th, and Rebeka Teumer 48th.
With the finish of the team season, the Bravettes graduate two senior leaders in Carissa Van Zee and Madelyn De Jong. Their contributions as leaders and tone-setters of team culture will be missed.
On the boys’ side, Brydon Henning finish 31st with an 18:49, Brayden Stockman finished 40th with a 19:03, and Colton Benson finished with a 22:51, his second strongest time of the season and a great finish to the season.
The Braves graduate senior Zach Templeton, who missed the second half of the season due to an untimely injury.
The future is bright for the Braves and Bravettes as they look to add from the nine 8th grade runners who finished competitively at the conference meet.
NEXT UP – Moving forward, junior Elise Boulton will run at the 2019 Iowa State High School Cross Country meet on Saturday, November 2nd at 2:00 at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
