Central cross country improves heading into conference meet
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
“It was another great day to run. Our kids responded with numerous season best marks. The meet, with so many conference teams present, definitely sends us to conference with extra confidence to be competitive next week,” said coach Martha Bauder, summing up the Central cross country team’s performance at the South Winneshiek meet last week.
The varsity girls came away with career best marks by Eva Embretson, Hannah Asche, Staci Herman, Taylor Moser, Jaydin Dettman and Madylen Gregerson. Season best times were run by Haley Mueller, Delaney Scherf, Ashlyn Scherf, Reese Berns and Coral Rork.
On the results side, Asche was the top finisher, placing fourth out of 53 runners. Two other teammates, Dettman who finished 13th and Delaney Scherf who finished 24th, were the only other top 25 Central runners. Moser crossed the line 34th, Berns 38th and Kaitlyn Wiley 40th.
As a team, Central scored 95 points, which was good for fourth place out of seven complete teams—54 points behind meet winner South Winn.
Gracie Cummer put up the team’s best JV finish, in 16th, with Rork close behind in 19th. Ashlyn Scherf finished 21st, while Mueller placed 22nd, and Gregerson 25th.
“From a team aspect, one of the most important improvements was our decrease in the spread between our number one and number five runners, which went down to 3:32 for the first time under four minutes. We will need that to get under three minutes in order to have a better chance at the district meet later in October,” Bauder said of the varsity team.
The Warrior boys participated in the JV race, with season best times from Brayden Finley, Tate Berns, Storm Huinker and Gavin Holst. Holst was the Warriors’ top finisher in fourth place, while Finley was 13th, Huinker 54th and Berns 59th. One of the big highlights, was Corey Weber, who not only finished fifth, but ran his career best by going under 19 minutes for the first time.
The Warriors finished second of four teams with a score of 63—42 points behind meet winner Decorah. It was only the second meet all season where Central sent out all five runners on the boys team.
Now, the Warriors will head to the Upper Iowa Conference meet on Thursday, Oct. 14, at Silver Springs Golf Course in Ossian. Action will start at 4 p.m.
