Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – One of the advantages of running at a home meet is an expanding knowledge of the course.

At least in theory.

That’s not exactly how things went for West High junior standout Kolby Greiner on Tuesday.

A wrong turn, or more accurately a lack of a turn cost Greiner a shot at a course record and an individual title at the West High Invitational on Tuesday at Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City.

Greiner saw an early lead evaporate when he got off course briefly and settled for a runner-up finish behind Marion senior Jeremy Fopma who won in a time of 15:24.

“I was leading and I got down to the corner and went all the way to the corner and apparently you are supposed to loop it and I didn’t,” Greiner said. “Someone said ‘Kolby, Kolby’ and Fopma had already gotten on the course.”

Despite the navigational error that added an estimated 100 meters to his route Greiner finished second in 15:44 to help Class 4A No. 10 West High to a runner-up team finish at the nine-team meet.

“It was after the mile, I went all the way to the corner and I turned around and I was astonished,” Greiner said. “I was trying to get the course record and after that I had basically nothing left.”

Third-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie put five runners in the top nine and rolled to the team title with 27 points.

Senior Ethan Goers finished 10th in 16:33 to join Greiner in the top 10 as West High was second with 68 points.

3A No. 6 Mount Vernon-Lisbon and 3A No. 8 Cedar Rapids Xavier each finished with 103 points while Marion was fifth with 105 and Regina was ninth with 245.

“We were looking forward to this race, we’ve got some really good competition out here,” Goers said. “Prairie is a really good team they were missing their first runner and still pulled out the win so they are really good.”

The wrong turn may have cost Greiner a title at his home meet but it didn’t spoil his first race at the Ashton Course as a prep.

The course was off limits to Wet High last season while under construction.

This season it once again serves as West High’s home course but is hardly a familiar track for Greiner who was unbeaten on the course in junior high races.

It doesn’t get any better than this,” Greiner said of running at the Ashton Course. “We haven’t run here for about two years so it’s just awesome to get back out on the course. It’s been a while. The last time I was out here I was in 8th grade and I was 3-0 on this course so it’s been good to me. I like it a lot.”

The ultra-positive Greiner was quick to give credit to Fopma, the defending Class 3A champion.

Fopma's winning time of 15:24 was seven seconds off the high school course record.

“He's an amazing runner,” Greiner said. “It’s the great thing about high school distance running in Iowa there is competition everywhere. At the end of the day there are no excuse High school distance running in Iowa is amazing and everyone is a competitor.”

Senior Kyle Sulwer finished 13th for West High in 16:42 while Ethan Trepka was 21st and Yousef Salama was 22nd.

“The team is looking amazing, I couldn’t be more proud of them,” Greiner said. “We are putting in work 24-7, we are doing morning and afternoon practices and the bond we are creating is just amazing.”

Regina got a strong performance from senior Nathan Meyer who finished 18th in a time of 16:59.

The Regals were the lone Class 2A squad in a field that featured five 4A schools.

We’ve been saying all the right things, we’ve been putting in the time and today was the day to do it and the way that Nathan Meyer ran he finally showed that he is ready,” Regina coach Chris Murdock said. “When you come to a 4A meet it’s hard when your place isn’t exactly where it should be and they accepted that and they all ran really, really hard.”

4A No. 10 Pleasant Valley won the girls team title with 49 points followed by North Scott with 61 and Cedar Rapids Prairie with 74.

Sophomore Kennedy Scott placed 18th in 20:33 to lead Regina to a seventh place finish with 170 points.

West High Invitational

Boys Results

Team scores – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 27; 2. West High 68; 3. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 103; 4. Cedar Rapids Xavier 103; 5. Marion 105; 6. North Scott 138; 7. Bettendorf 149; 8. Des Moines East 227; 9. Regina 245.

Individual Results – 1. Jeremy Fopma (MAR) 15:24; 2. Kolby Greiner (ICW) 15:44; 3. Robert Laue (CRP) 16:10; 4. Mike Jasa (CRP) 16:14; 5. Max Laue (CRP) 16:14; 6. Colton LaGrange 16:17; 7. Harrison Vanderlinden (MAR) 16:18; 8. Jonathan Lansing (CRX) 16:20; 9. Elijah Vlasek (CRP) 16:25; 10. Ethan Goers (ICW) 16:33.

West High – 2. Kolby Greiner 15:44; 10. Ethan Goers 16:33;13. Kyle Sulwer 16:42; 21. Ethan Trepka 17:04; 22. Yousef Salama 17:06; 25. Osman Salama 17:16; 38. Micah Bailey 17:46.

Regina – 18. Nathan Meyer 16:59; 53. Anthony Knepper 18:35; 57. Michael Dunn 19:22; 58. Nicholas Yowell 19:27; 59. Robert Beck 19:31; 60. Zach Kratz 19:50; 61. Ethan Boileau 19:55.

Girls Results

Team scores – 1. Pleasant Valley 49; 2. North Scott 61; 3. Cedar Rapids Prairie 74; 4. Bettendorf 78; 5. Marion 107; 6. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 158; 7. Regina 170; 8. Cedar Rapids Xavier 205.

Individual results – 1. Trinity Borland (BET) 18:51; 2. Laurdyn Meyer (CRP) 18:57; 3. Mallory Lafever (PV) 19:00; 4. Presley Case (NS) 19:07; 5. Maddie Minard (PV) 19:26; 6. Abby Riley (PV) 19:39; 7. Kendall White (CRP) 19:41; 8. Hallie Kephart (MAR) 20:00; 9. Aubrey Frey (MV-L) 20:00; 10. Abbi Lafrenz (NS) 20:11.

Regina – 18. Kennedy Scott 20:33; 31. Molly Vittetoe 21:18; 38. Nourah Abusada 21:41; 41. Lauren Gaarde 21:50; 42. Emma Welter 21:53; 52. Bree Balke 22:40; 54. Mary Catherine Graff 23:09.