By Coach Kevin Gartman
The Montezuma Cross Country teams traveled to Diamond Trail Golf Club in Lynnville on Thursday, Sept. 18, to compete in the local invitational.
Running first, the high school girls had their strongest showing of the season with a second-place finish. Elise Boulton led the Bravettes with a 3rd place finish, followed closely by fellow medalists Mia Boulton in 8th and Madison Johannes in 15th.
Makenna Johannes, Lydia Singleton, and Ashlee Eilander kept their exciting individual seasons going, finishing with new career-best times on a difficult course.
The runner-up finish came at the legs of the #2 program in 1A, Pekin. Despite finishing second, the Bravettes finished ahead of their first ranked program of the year by a sizable margin and are currently recognized by the coaches association as a team to watch, just outside of the top 15 rankings.
In addition, Elise Boulton is ranked 25th among 30 rated runners in Class 1A by the Iowa Track Coaches Association.
The Braves had a competitive meet on their side as well, coming in with a 4th-place finish. Brydon Henning medaled at 13th place for the boys to lead the charge.
Freshman Jack Erselius ran his new fastest time.
Freshman Jayden Ross set a new bar by approximately a minute and a half, and senior Cam Johnson set his fourth consecutive new best time as he continues to consistently get better each meet.
The Braves finished one spot back from a hot North Mahaska team that is finding its stride, yet one spot ahead of the Lynnville-Sully team on their home course. The Braves placed ahead of a Collins-Maxwell program that was receiving attention as a program on the cusp of being ranked, a motivating finish heading into the weekend.
At the junior high level, both the girls and boys programs finished in 3rd place.
8th grader Ellen Cook finished in second place, just a few seconds out of the individual title in a hard-fought race. Joining her brothers and completing the Erselius trio on the course was 7th grader Claire, who ran a strong race in her first meet of the season.
On the boys side, top-15 finishes were had by 7th grader Broox Stockman and Luke Erselius, as well as 8th grade teammate Bryson Stockman as the trio filled out the 13-15th spots individually.
UP NEXT – The cross country teams will compete at BGM on Monday, Sept. 21, run at the Brooklyn-Victor Country Club before the high school programs travel to Grundy Center on Thursday.