Title Town

CLARINDA - One team was the repeat champion and the other won their first title in three decades.
And they were both Glenwood.

The Glenwood girls and boys cross country teams swept the Hawkeye 10 Conference Cross Country meet titles Thursday at Clarinda High School.

Mason Parks was first and Parson Covington was second to lead the boys to the team title. The girls had all five of their runners place in the top 13 but tied with Atlantic for first place with 56 points, necessitating a tie breaker. The Rams’ sixth place runner, Lexi Hankins, placed 21st to the Monarch’s Adriana Marquez, who placed 49th to break the tie and give Glenwood its first Hawkeye 10 title since 1985.

Glenwood girls coach Jeff Janssen said he could not be more proud of his team’s performance at the conference meet.

“To make history and win our first H-10 championship in 32 years feels so amazing,” Janssen said. “The credit belongs to the girls, who have put in the work and been committed to being successful, Coach (Dani) Woodman for her knowledge and passion for training, and to the parents who have been so involved and supportive this season.”

At the two mile mark, Janssen said his team wasn’t winning any championships. But the last mile, the Rams turned it on and turned in one of their best performances of the season.

Janssen said his team “finished” Thursday.

“The performances at the end of the race were outstanding,” Janssen said.

In summer workouts coming into the season, Janssen said, he felt like his team had the potential for a special season but a few injuries and a lot of busy schedules had him thinking that there was little chance his team could breeze through the season. With that in mind, he and assistant coach Woodman, recognized early on that this team’s mindset, commitment to preparation and desire to be great would go far in deciding how good this team would be.

“Clearly, the miles this summer have played a huge part in our success, but coupled with that, our team’s dedication to doing things the right way and working together have been what’s helped us achieve what we have thus far,” Janssen said.

Lacey Jackson continued her outstanding junior season by leading the Rams with a seventh place finish. Katelyn Malcom especially had a stellar last mile, according to Janssen, passing many runners to finish eighth overall. Jackson and Malcom both all earned all-Hawkeye 10 Conference first team recognition.

Aubrey McIntyre just missed a top finish by three seconds, finishing 11th for Glenwood.

“Aubrey has been so consistent in terms of her finishes the last few meets and followed suit (at the conference meet),” Janssen said.

Jackson and Malcom both all earned all-Hawkeye 10 Conference first team recognition.

Janssen added that Kate Kaufman, who finished 13th at the conference meet, was disappointed in her finish, but the senior is battling through a few nagging minor injuries and toughed it out to race and earn second team all-conference honors.

Erin Schultz added a 19th place finish to cap the Rams’ scoring.

“I can’t say enough about the two deciding factors for our H-10 Championship last night: Lexi Hankins and Abi Schultz,” Janssen said. “To have the championship be determined by the sixth runner (Lexi) and to have her and our seventh runner (Abi Schultz) finish 25 plus spots ahead of Denison’s sixth and deciding runner was amazing.”

The Rams’ Parks and Covington had pretty amazing runs of their own. The juniors ran neck in neck most of the race before Parks stormed out of the pack to finish atop the standings. Covington was running sixth the final 200 meters and kicked late to finish just three seconds behind Parks.

Glenwood easily outpaced runner up Council Bluffs Lewis Central, a team that had the Rams’ number most of the season,  38 to 59 in the team standings. Council Bluffs St. Albert was a distant third with 94 points.

“All season Lewis Central had beaten us but we’ve been steadily gaining on them and closing the gap on times and I felt like we could win this one here, “ said Glenwood boys coach Todd Peverill, who now has coached seven conference championship teams in his 20 seasons as head coach. “And they really put it together, from the junior varsity right through the varsity. They ran a really strong race. We won the hills. We train on hills all season and this was a hilly course and Lewis Central’s had some trouble on hills so that was big. Mason and Parson taking one and two and Gable (Thompson) running ninth place was tremendous.”

Gable passed eight runners over the final half mile of the course to place ninth.

Parks, Covington and Thompson all earned first team all-conference honors with top 10 finishes.

Sam McIntyre was 12th and Tyler Huey 14th to give Glenwood five place winners among the top 15 and what Peverill called his team’s “most complete race of the season.”

“It finally happened,” Peverill said of his team putting together its best meet of the season. “We ran a complete race from junior varsity all the way through. I’m really pleased with how we ran. I feel like we’re peaking at the right time. Part of that is how we train. We start a little slow and then I work them really hard and then we dial it back and then when we hit this time of year our legs are back and people say ‘Man, you’re kids are getting faster.’ And I say, ‘Yeah, I train them that way.’”

The Rams head to the Class 3A State Qualifying Meet Thursday at the Atlantic Golf and Country Club. The girls run at 4 p.m. immediately followed by the boys.

Hawkeye 10 Cross Country
Girls Team Results
1. Glenwood, 56. 2. Denison, 56. 3. Atlantic, 88. 4. Harlan, 94. 5. Creston, 130. 6. Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 153. 7. Shenandoah, 176. 8. Red Oak, 189. 9. Kuemper Catholic, 256.

Glenwood Girls Place Winners
7. Lacey Jackson, 21:31. 8. Katelyn Malcom, 21:32. 11. Aubrey McIntyre, 21:40. 13. Kate Kaufman, 21:52. 19. Erin Schultz, 22:08. 21. Lexi Hankins, 22:12. 23. Abi Schultz, 22:19.

Boys Team Results
1. Glenwood, 38. 2. Council Bluffs Lewis Central, 59. 3. Council Bluffs St. Albert, 94. 4. Kuemper Catholic, 126. 5. Harlan, 129. 6. Atlantic, 149. 7. Red Oak, 190. 8. Denison, 203. 9. Shenandoah, 216. 10. Clarinda, 239. 11. Creston, 273.

Glenwood Boys Place Winners
1. Mason Parks, 17:59. 2. Parson Covington, 18:02. 9. Gable Thompson, 18:29. 12. Sam McIntyre, 18:48. 15. Tyler Huey, 18:52. 39. William Ingels, 19:57.