Central runners show consistency at Jesup Invitational
By Willis Patenaude, Times-Register
The Sept. 27 Jesup Invitational “was a nice, cool, dry day for good times on a fast course and with a lot of competition pushing us,” said Central cross country coach Martha Bauder.
Indeed that was the case, as 21 of Central’s 23 runners had season or course best times, with several runners putting up career times. Both junior varsity teams competed well against the 30 plus teams at the invitational, with the boys finishing fourth and the girls second.
In the boys junior varsity race, Gavin Holst finished second, achieving a course best time of 18:14.5 in the process. The next highest Warrior was Collin Jaster in 22nd, followed by Caden Fette in 44th, Vaughn Zittergruen in 51st, Carter Kruger in 72nd, Tate Berns in 100th, Bryce Heller in 113th, Michael White in 129th and Declan Finley in 131st. Zittergruen, Fette, Heller, White and Finley all ran career best times.
The majority of Central’s girls cross country team ran in the junior varsity race, led by top finisher Taylor Moser in seventh, in a course best time of 22:59.5. Three more Warriors placed inside the top 15, including Haley Frieden in 11th, Reese Berns in 13th and Coral Rork in 14th. Frieden and Rork ran career best times, while Berns ran a course best. The other Warriors in the race were Eva Embretson, who finished 19th, Layla Embretson in 28th, Aspen Rork in 33rd, Alexis Thiese in 51st, Madylen Gregerson in 52nd, Ashlyn Scherf in 69th and Brooke Tieden in 94th.
The Warriors sent three girls into the varsity 5K, including Hannah Asche, Jaydin Dettman and Delaney Scherf. Asche ran a course best time of 20:29.9 to finish 15th. Asche was also only nine seconds off the Central girls record for the course, set in 2015 by Haley Schroeder. Dettman also ran a course best 20:35.3 which was good for 19th. Both Dettman and Asche were medalists. As for Scherf, she ran a season best 22:37.1, which put her in 62nd place.
The Warriors’ next meet was Oct. 4, at South Winneshiek.