Off and Running

The Glenwood girls placed third and the boys fifth at the 40th annual Ram Invitational Cross Country Meet in Glenwood Lake Park Saturday.

The Ram girls got a trio of top 10 finishes from Hayley Matthews (fifth), Natalie Shearer (seventh) and Jillian Finnegan (ninth) to rack up 74 team points.

Harlan swept the boys and girls team titles. The Cyclone girls had five place winners among the top 12 runners while the boys placed three runners in the top four.

The Ram girls entered the season-opening meet and Glenwood’s lone home meet, with a goal of placing among the top three, said Coach Brad Rasmussen.

Matthews got off to a good start in her senior season, placing fifth in 17:15 while Natalie Shearer wasn’t far behind in seventh with a time of 17:25.

“Natalie ran with Hayley for most of the race and will continue to improve as the season progresses. Jillian Finnegan really stepped up her performance today with her ninth-place finish in the race.  She ran a very smart race and looked to stay relaxed throughout the race,” said Glenwood girls coach Brad Rasmussen.

Miranda Ruth placed 25th but she cut nearly 50 seconds off her time from last year. Taylor Kuhl battled through an ankle issue to place 29th while freshman Grace Presley was 30th in her first varsity race.

“The Rams are off to a good start and will continue to improve with more training and experience this season,” Rasmussen said. “The team has a goal of having a 60 second gap between the number one runner and the number five runner on the team.  We need to now focus on closing the gap between the first three runners and our fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh runners.”

Closing the gap was a popular theme for the Glenwood boys cross country team in their fifth-place finish. The Rams placed five runners among the top 29 place winners but there was more than a minute gap between the Rams’ top place winner, Cuentin Gray (sixth, 18:42) and it’s next finisher, Ross Van Slyke (22nd, 19:49).

“We need to close the gap between our second and sixth runners, basically.,” said Glenwood boys coach Todd Peverill. “The time between Cuentin and (No. 2 runner) Ross Van Slyke was over a minute. When it’s this competitive of a meet that’s too big of a gap. We need to close that gap but overall we had a good performance.”

Despite not finishing where he’d like, Peverill was pleased with his team’s performance against some of the top competition in southwest Iowa.

“Harlan and T.J. are pretty good solid teams so they’re usually up there but Cuentin ran a great race and beat the Red Oak kid who placed high at the state meet last year, so I was pleased with his performance,” Peverill said.  “We needed this. When you start training in the summer but the time the first meet comes around that’s a long time, almost five months. You need a race. We have a few things to improve on and we know what we have to do and hopefully by the end of the year we’re right there.”

Ram Invitational
Girls Team Results
1. Harlan, 42. 2. Atlantic, 68. 3. Glenwood, 74. 4. Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, 83. 5. Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln, 92. 6. Southwest Valley, 164.

Top 10 Individual Girls Place Winners
1. Tiffany Williams, Atlantic, 15:41. 2. Bre Waugh, Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln, 16:35. 3. Mercedee Mayberry, Harlan, 16:48. 4. Cassie Warner, Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, 17:03. 5. Hayley Matthews, Glenwood, 17:15. 6. Marissa Klindt, Harlan, 17:23. 7. Natalie Shearer, Glenwood, 17:25. 8. Alissia Tallant, Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, 17:30.54. 9. Jillian Finnegan, Glenwood, 17:31.40. 10. Kara Rueschenberg, Harlan, 17:41.

Glenwood Girls Place Winners
5. Hayley Matthews, 17:15. 7. Natalie Shearer, 17:25. 9. Jillian Finnegan, 17:31.40. 26. Miranda Ruth, 19:02. 29. Taylor Kuhl, 19:12. 30. Grace Presley, 19:18. 33. Danni Finn, 19:33.

Boys Team Results
1. Harlan, 38. 2. Council Buffs Abraham Lincoln, 67. 3. Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, 74. 4. Red Oak, 102. 5. Glenwood, 106. 6. Atlantic, 112. 7. Southwest Valley, 208.

Top 10 Individual Boys Place Winners
1. Eldon Warner, Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, 17:43. 2. Preston Burris, Harlan, 18:08. 3. Drew Voge, Harlan, 18:19. 4. Michael Sciranko, Harlan, 19:33. 5. Tyler Messenger, Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln, 18:40. 6. Cuentin Gray, Glenwood, 18:42. 7. Josh Sunberg, Red Oak, 18:51. 8. Alex Brewer, Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln, 18:54. 9. Ryan Hawkins, Atlantic, 18:55. 10. Parker Raes, Council Bluffs Thomas Jefferson, 19:02.

Glenwood Boys Place Winners
6. Cuentin Gray, 18:42. 22. Ross Van Slyke, 19:49. 24. Giles Allan, 20:18. 25. William Ingles, 20:21. 29. Jackson Hein, 20:34. 33. Victor Salerno, 20:46. 35. Ethan Thompson, 20:55.