Area cross country roundup: Central Decatur boys' magical season continues

Class 2A District meet

PANORAMA – After a one day postponement due to weather, Central Decatur cross country boys’ magical season continues as the group qualified for Saturday’s state meet in Fort Dodge without its No. 1 runner.

The Class 2A No. 9 Cardinal boys took home third place, without Class 2A No. 3 Will Gillis, tying Class 2A No. 10 Albia with 118 points. Albia finished in second due to a higher scoring sixth runner, and Class 2A No. 5 Davis County finished in first place.

“This day might live in CD sports lore for a while. The high school boys were counted out by many and everyone knew we were missing our best runner who happened to be the No. 4 individual in the state,” Central Decatur head coach Reece Tedford said. “It was like swimming in shark-infested waters with the other teams and they smelled the blood in the water. That intensified many teams’ belief they could beat us out of those qualifying spots.”

Tyson McDole was the top runner for the Cardinals Friday. He finished in sixth place, running a time of 18:05. Tate Swartz took home a 15th-place finish with a time of 18:34. Sophomores Glenn Oesch (19:10) and Vincent Carcamo (19:14) finished in 26th and 28th places, respectively. Freshman Joe Sheetz (19:44) rounded out scoring, taking 39th place. Jack Greenwood was the tiebreaker with Albia, finishing in 53rd place with a time of 20:44.

“I really didn’t have to motivate these guys. They wanted it and were willing to fight for it-but it was a fight,” Tedford said. “Few people saw the battle back in the woods – which involved some of our kids running themselves into the ground trying to make this happen. They were hurting by the time the crowd saw them at 1k to go, but they weren’t going to concede anything.”

On the girls end, the Cardinals finished in 10th place, scoring 218 points. Class 2A No. 14 Davis County finished first with 64 points, Class 2A No. 5 Panorama took second place with 70 points and Class 2A No. 4 Roland-Story rounded out state-qualifying teams with 80 points in third place.

Aniston Jones finished in 22nd place as the top scorer, running a time of 23:01. Harrisen Bevan (23:43) and Hadley Bell (24:11) finished in 31st and 37th places, respectively. Haley Oesch (26:13) and Jamie Oesch (26:50) rounded out scoring for the Cardinals in 62nd and 66th places, respectively.

“The girls team ran hard as well. They are gaining steam and the pieces are coming together for the young group,” Tedford said. “I was very happy with their effort, progress, and attitude as they gave what they had. I really believe the girls team is closer than people think and might only be one year away from doing what the boys are doing.”

Class 3A District meet

WINTERSET – Clarke was the lone Class 3A area school at Winterset, with the boys team finishing in 12th place as a team.

Clarke scored 343 points for 12th place. Class 3A No. 1 Dallas Center-Grimes scored 26 points for first place, Class 3A No. 13 ADM scored 68 points for second place and Class 3A No. 15 Glenwood rounded out state-qualifying teams in third place with 103 points.

Calhoun Lundquist led the way for the boys, finishing in 64th place with a time of 19:42. Ethan Domina (19:56) and Richie Donaldson (19:57) finished back-to-back in 66th and 67th places. Steven Hiatt ran a time of 20:35 for 69th place. Seth Johnson was the final scorer for Clarke, coming in 77th place with a time of 21:16.

On the girls end, Katie Donaldson finished in 42nd place with a time of 22:17. Rebecca Van Buren took home 66th place, running a 25:16.