By Coach Kevin Gartman
WILLAMSBURG – The Montezuma Cross Country team opened its season at Williamsburg on Tuesday, September 1st with one of the strongest team performances to start a season in a while.
The Bravettes varsity team started off the year with a 4th place finish, one placing ahead of last year, behind three high-quality opponents.
Elise Boulton paced the Bravettes with a 21:23, good for 8th place, which was her fastest time and highest finish on the course over her four seasons.
After Elise came the closest pack of runners in places two through seventh that the girls have had in a while. They were separated by just two minutes.
Within that pack were Mia Boulton, Madison Johannes, Beka Teumer, Carmen Klos, freshman Alivia Cline in her first high school 5K competition, and Haley Van Der Hart.
The Braves’ varsity boys team also had a hot start to the season with several new runners etting thrown into the fire early.
Returning senior Brydon Henning led the squad, medaling in 13th place, with a 40-second improvement on the same course from his junior season.
Sophomore Gavin Strong and senior Cam Johnson had standout performances in their first-ever cross country meets, and freshmen Carter McKee and Jack Erselius showed that their exciting 8th grade seasons have the ability to carry over well to the high school level.
To round out the squad, sophomore Colton Benson showed a strong improvement in his second season, especially early on, and freshman Jayden Ross set a new personal best time in a 5K by a full seven minutes.
To round out the meet, the JV Bravettes turned in a runner-up team performance. Freshman Makenna Johannes medaled in 7th place and fellow freshman Lydia Singleton just missed the medal mark by a few seconds, finishing 11th.
Continuing with a strong freshman showing, Ashlee Eilander and Camryn Brennan used strong kicks to stand out with their fastest times. Seniors Katie Probasco and Alyssa Cline’s strong performances helped to clinch the second place mark as a team.
The Montezuma Cross Country program will be competing in high school and junior high races at Ahrens Park in Grinnell on Tuesday, September 8th.
Grinnell has asked that only parents/guardians of competing athletes attend, and that athletes and parents leave at the completion of the race if possible.
While these guidelines are different than in past years, the program asks for continued following of the guidelines to allow the Montezuma teams to continue to compete towards big end-of-season goals.
