SIGOURNEY – Montezuma’s varsity girls won their fourth straight SICL team championship on Monday, Oct. 11.
But there was more going on just below the surface, according to Coach Kevin Gartman:
“We had so many great things happening tonight,” Gartman said.
- “The high school girls all stepped up in the face of adversity and went out and COMPETED. Several girls in the middle of our lineup beat 3-4 girls who beat them at Montezuma or had been beating them all year.”
- “Despite Sigourney making this course longer (came in at 3.2 and not the regulatory 3.1 miles), Lydia, Camryn, Haileah, and Faith all ran faster this time around, by as much as 3 minutes.”
- “HS boys COMPETED as well, closing the gap with North Mahaska substantially over the season and finishing just a few points shy of a Lynnville team that had 3 runners score 1, 2, and 4 points. Every runner on the team beat at least 1 runner that they would’ve been projected behind, with a couple of runners surpassing as many as 5 higher ranked runners.”
- “JH girls and boys both had their strongest showings of the year. 5 of 7 runners ran faster on tonight’s 1.6-mile course than they ran on their 1.5 mile race earlier in the year, and the previous certainly wasn’t as hilly and challenging. The other two finished within 7 seconds of that previous time. Several, if not all, runners ran their best race of the year.”
“Congrats to the high school girls on their 4th straight conference title!” Gartman said.
“It’s worth taking the time to acknowledge that achievement the girls have accomplished, as I can’t think of many SICL schools and sports who have been able to achieve that feat.”
“Four conference titles in a row is notable, and congrats to Mia and MJ for not knowing what it’s like to lose a conference title race in their XC careers.”
“Our varsity teams will travel to Iowa City Regina at the Kickers Course we know well for the state qualifying meet next Thursday,” Oct. 20,” Gartman said.
“The girls will run at 4 p.m. with the boys following. I look forward to the next week and a half of practice as we work to cause a little chaos in Iowa City next week!”
Gartman thanked the Montezuma for its support at Sigourney “It is always awesome to see Montezuma as the best-represented fan base at a conference event. You all continue to crush it as fans!”
The coach also noted a second-place team finish by the middle school girls, a sign, he said, of more good things ahead for the Bravettes.
SICL Cross Country
at Sigourney
Varsity Girls – 1, Montezuma 35. 2, Lynnville-Sully, 40. 3, Colfax-Mingo 70, 4, Iowa Valley 83. There were 38 total runners.
Bravettes – 5, Claire Erselius, 23:58.17. 7, Madison Johannes, 24:38.65. 11, Mia Boulton, 25:20.99. 15, Lydia Singleton, 26:44.40. 17, Ashlee Eilander, 27:10.57. 25, Camryn Brennan, 28:12.23. 28, Haileah Eichenberger, 29:06.46. 38, Faith Ferry, 37:59.61.
Varsity Boys – 1, North Mahaska 36. 2, Lynnville-Sully 53. 3, Montezuma, 59. 4, Colfax-Mingo, 77. There were 48 runners.
Braves – 10, Carter McKee, 20:23.92. 12, Gavin Strong, 20:33.41. 14, Jack Erselius, 20:58.13. 17, Jayden Ross, 21:43.47. 22, Colton Benson, 22:06.58. 32, Bryson Stockman, 23:22.18. 38, Kohen Holland, 24:04.23.
Middle School
Girls – 1, English Valleys, 18. 2, Montezuma 41. There were 25 runners.
Bravettes – 5, Lauryn Larmore, 10:50.61. 16, Vivian Cook, 12:47.78. 18, Alexa Rose, 13:02.85. 19, Sophia Semprini, 13:21.07. 25, Olivia Burnett, 16:23.94.
Boys – There were 33 runners.
Braves – 11, Linkyn Bru, 11:03.35. 19, Dayton Reif, 12:21.15.