MONTEZUMA – North Mahaska girls cross country placed third at the South Iowa Cedar League meet held at Big Springs Shooting facility west of Montezuma. Belle Plaine hosted the meet. The North Mahaska boys had only four runners so could not compete for a team score. Junior high girls had two finishes in the top 15.
Lynnville-Sully girls and boys took the team titles for high school. In the girls’ team race, the Hawks scored 29 points followed by English Valleys with 35. North Mahaska scored 88 followed by Colfax-Mingo with 95 and Montezuma with 98.
Lynnville-Sully’s Mandeesa Vos, who is ranked 27th in the state in Class 1A, posted a first place time of 19 minutes 38.4 seconds. Emmerson Jedlicka posted a season best 20:13.10 to place third and Ava Huffman ran with an injured toe and only one shoe at times and placed 17th in 22:33.0. Amber Knockel ran her strongest time ever covering the distance in 24:00.0. Alivia Schock was 27th in 25:25.9 while Abby Van Weelden (26:27.9) and Breckyn Schilling (26:42.0) placed 31st and 34th respectively. Van Weelden and Schilling also posted personal best times.
Kincaid Mitchell notched his season best time of 19:57.20 to finish 25th. Jeb Goemaat posted his personal best time of 21:11 to place 36th. Cain Grandia was 49th in 23:15 and William Cox ran his personal best of 27:37.9. The boys were running short with the absence of Axl Patterson and Ben Yang.
Jeremiah Van Wyk was the lone junior high boys finishing 29th overall in 12:23.80. Jade DeBoef ran to third place for the girls in 10:02.06. Addelynn Jedlicka picked up 15th in 11:38.30 and Mallory Schippers was 38th in 14:20.30.
“Emmerson, Kincaid, Jeb, Will, Abby, and Breckyn, all had season or personal bests,” said NM coach Roman Meyers. “The girls team finished third in the conference. Ava has a minor toe injury and ran a good portion of the race with only one shoe. With that in consideration, we may have had the second place mark if we had normal conditions.”
North Mahaska will head to district competition at Pleasantville Thursday, Oct. 24 at 4 p.m.
“All of the runners are still peaking, and I expect them all to improve still through districts and, for those who make it, state,” said Meyers.
Emmerson Jedlicka will be seeking a return to the state meet where she placed 88th over in 21:31.2.
