Sigourney boys, girls take first place at Keota meet

The Sigourney boy's and girl's cross country teams took on a field of runners on the Lagos Acres golf course in Keota on Tuesday, Sept. 5. Behind some quality individual performances, both teams took home first place.

The girls got things started on the hilly course, with windy and chilly conditions, quite the opposite from last year's heat race.

"The weather helped the runners this year. Last year it was closer to 100 degrees," coach Andy Harter said.

After two laps on the course, the first Sigourney girl to cross the finish line was Summer Barthelmann, in sixth place with a time of 23:41. There was a sizeable gap between Savage finishes, with Lainey Graff taking 18^th place with a time of 25:44.

Shortly behind her was Megan Stuhr (24^th, 26:40), Autum Barthelman (26^th, 27:25) and Cami Thompson (27^th, 27:28). To round out the top 30, Sydney Atwood finished in 29^th with a time of 27:35. Alyssa Landgrebe was the final Savage to cross the line in 35^th with a time of 30:37.

"I wanted to see some individuals run times closer to what they were capable of coming into this meet," Harter said.

The boys saw just as much success, with seven boys competing and all finishing in the top 30.

Tristan Bell led the charge with a fourth-place finish and a time of 18:47, 15 seconds off the leader. Less than 20 seconds later, Paul Montgomery crossed the finish line in fifth place. Mason Moore rounded out the top 10, finishing seventh in 19:25.

Dawson Webster (15^th, 20:32), Jake Ives (21^st, 21:07), Trace Bell (26^th, 21:45) and Nick Ives (27^th, 21:50) helped complete a successful meet for the Savages.

"I knew we had a shot at being in the top three," Harter said. "Our boys ran well in a pack. Every race going forward will determine who’s on the varsity roster."