By Coach Kevin Gartman
The Montezuma cross country teams embraced a beautiful day at the Montezuma Country Club on Thursday, Oct. 8.
Mother Nature gave cross country teams a chance to enjoy the Montezuma course in a meet that was postponed last year, and it was storming during the meet the year prior.
In the junior high girls race, Ellen Cook was the individual champion, adding a new meet title to what has been a very strong and successful season.
Claire Erselius medaled at 7th place for the Bravettes in one of her strongest races of the year. Finishing out the grueling Montezuma hills were Catelynn Coffin, Amy Longfellow, Lily Ferry, and Hayley Burnett.
The junior high girls team placed 2nd.
On the junior high boys side, Luke Erselius medaled in 5th place in his strongest race of the year and teammates Broox Stockman and Jusiah Wetering medaled 11th and 12th. Kohen Holland and Carson Van Der Hart both had strong individual performances to round out the boys side. The boys team placed 3rd.
In the varsity girls race, Elise Boulton was the individual champion, claiming her first meet title on the Montezuma course. In addition to a meet victory, Elise set a new school record on the Montezuma Country Club course, beating her own previous school record set her freshman year by 46 seconds.
Coming in 4th place was sophomore Madison Johannes, with junior Haley Van Der Hart medaling in the top ten as well, sneaking out that 10th place spot.
The Bravettes had three more medalists in the top 20, with Beka Teumer in 15th, Makenna Johannes in 16th, and Lydia Singleton in 18th. Ashlee Eilander, Camryn Brennan, and Alyssa Cline rounded out the team. Despite the strong performances, the 15th-ranked Bravettes fell just four points short of a meet victory, finishing runner-up.
The varsity boys had a really good night of individual and team performances led by senior Brydon Henning, who medaled in 6th place.
Freshman Carter McKee had a nice bounce-back performance after battling through an injury over the last few weeks, medaling in 17th.
Running ahead of his average times, and doing so on one of the toughest courses of the year, was freshman Jack Erselius, followed closely by Cam Johnson, Gavin Strong, Colton Benson, and Jayden Ross.
The varsity boys placed fourth, surpassing a team they had not been able to beat all year, and setting themselves up well for a strong conference finish on Tuesday.
SICL MEET IS NEXT – The Montezuma cross country teams finish up the junior high and JV seasons on Tuesday as all levels of competition compete at the SICL Championship Meet hosted by Lynnville-Sully at Diamond Trail Golf Club, beginning at 4:30.
