Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Home meets are few and far between for most cross country teams.

After having its lone home meet rained out and with a rainy forecast schedule for Tuesday West High was in danger of going a second straight season without an opportunity to run on its home course.

Instead the rain held off and West High made the most of the opportunity on Tuesday finishing third in a strong field at its own West High Invitational at Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City.

“Last year our home meet got cancelled so we were all really looking forward to it,” West High sophomore Alex McKane. “Coach (Kidman) was hyping it up, we had the drum line out here and we were looking forward to it for a while.”

McKane, fellow sophomore Nicolo Schianchi and junior Ken Wilbur all posted top-15 finishes as Class 3A eighth-ranked West High finished with 90 points.

Seventh-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie won the team title with 81 points followed by Johnston with 85.

“We saw the rain and we kind of had it in the back of our mind that it could rain but we were going to be ready to race,” McKane said. “We were excited for this opportunity and happy we were able to run today.

Forecasts calling for heavy rain in the area produced unseasonal heat and humidity and forced the cancellation of the schedule junior high races and some shuffling of varsity race times.

The weather didn’t dampen a spirited atmosphere at the meet that included members of the West High drum line and a large crowd of spectators at the 13-team co-ed meet.

“The race just happened to fall on homecoming week this year so we drummed up a little bit of support and had some guest speakers at practice and got the drum line out there and got excited for it,” West High coach Josh Kidman said. “I think it went well overall. Maybe not exactly how we dreamed it up but as we hit this big block in our season we are ready for the end and ready for the championship stuff to come around. It was a super great race tonight I thought.”

Schianchi finished fourth and McKane was 11th to pace West High as the Trojans put four runs in the top 15.

Cedar Rapids Prairie had the top two finishers, led by senior Jack Pendergast who won the individual title by more than 11 seconds over teammate Hunter Kalous in a time of 16:22.3.

Schianchi was fourth in 16:45.2, less than five seconds off the pace of third-place Lewis Kleman of Cedar Rapids Washington.

“It was really warm and I tried to go out pretty hard because that had worked out in my last couple of races it didn’t work out perfectly this race because I kind of fell off at a mile and a half,” Schianchi said. “My time wasn’t really fast but overall I am pretty happy about it.”

It was the first time competing in a meet at Ashton for Schianchi and McKane who were both freshman las season when the Trojans’ home met was cancelled due to weather.

That made Tuesday’s meet a little extra special for both.

“Today they had the drum line out here and its always really nice to show how well you have been preparing for the summer and the whole season,” Schianchi said. “There were a lot of strong runners. It’s really nice to compare yourself with the best people.”

McKane was 11th in 17:08 while Wilbur was 14th in 17:19.7.

The hot and humid conditions took a toll on runners but McKane said it was a challenge the Trojans were prepared for.

“It was hot and it was really humid and we were coming off a tough weekend but we were ready for it,” McKane said. “In conditions like these is when you see what guys are really made of. It spices it up a little bit.”
3A No. 9 Cedar Rapids Prairie won the girls meet by one point over sixth-ranked Dubuque Hempstead, finishing with 49 points.

Class 1A sixth-ranked Regina was sixth with 170 points.

Annalee Bartles led the Regals placing 17th in 21:20.6 while Mya Whitaker was 30th in 22:15.9 and Josie Voss was 39th in 23:21.8.

West High Invitational

Team scores – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 81; 2. Johnston 85; 3. West High 90; 4. Cedar Rapids Washington 111; 5. Ankeny Centennial 124; 6. Bettendorf 151; 7. North Scott 181; 8. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 189; 9. Marion 195; 10. Muscatine 256; 11. Cedar Rapids Xavier 293; 12. Des Moines East 307; 13. Regina 369

Individual leaders – 1. Jack Pendergast (CRP) 16:22.3; 2. Hunter Kalou (CRP) 16:33.4; 3. Lewis Kleman (CRW) 16:40.9; 4. Nicolo Schianchi (ICW) 16:45.2; 5. Gabriel Vicker (AC) 16:52; 6. Jack Renning (CRX) 16:52.9; 7. Kyler Castro (BET) 16:56.9; 8. Connor Cunningham (AC) 16:59.4; 9. Hunter Briggs (JON) 17:00.3; 10. Max Locher (CRW) 17:07.4; 11. Alex McKane (ICW) 17:07.4; 12. Carlo Dannenfelser (CRP) 17:10.1; 13. Nathan Tegeler (JON) 17:10.3; 14. Ken Wilbur (ICW) 17:19.7; 15. Nick Moore (BET) 17:21.9
West High – 4 Nicolo Schianchi 16:45.2; 11. Alex McKane 17:08; 14. Ken Wilbur 17:19.7; 29. Raymond Yang 17:52.6; 32. Mohan Kumar 17:54.9; 40. Caden Noeller 18:07.8; 45. Seth Cheney 18:17.5

Regina – 58. Joe Maley 18:56.9; 62. Ethan Boileau 18:59.4; 80. Andrew Miller 20:18.2; 84. Evan Lacina 21:05.8; 85. Nick Kratz 21:32.4; 86. Adam Boblenz 21:37.5; 87. Nicholas Abusada 21:40.1

Girls Results

Team Scores – 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 49; 2. Dubuque Hempstead 50; 3. Ankeny Centennial 54; 4. North Scott 137; 5. Cedar Rapids Washington 164; 6. Regina 170; 7. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 175; 8. Marion 193; 9. Muscatine 241; 10. Cedar Rapids Xavier 243; 11. Des Moines East 331

Individual leaders – 1. Mary Cline (CRW) 19:56.7; 2. Gabby Cortez (CRP) 20:03.7; 3. Laurdyn Meyer (CRP) 20:08.5; 4. Hannah Brown (DH) 20:24.7; 5. Carli Reittinger (CRP) 20:46.5; 6. Rondi Quass (AC) 20:47.1; 7. Morgan Graybill (AC) 20:56.5; 8. Emma Holesinger (DH) 20:56.7; 9. Kierstan Fritz (AC) 20:58.3; 10. Shaelyn Hostager (DH) 21:01.3; 11. Jeanne Peters (AC) 21:05.8; 12. Kaylee Leicht (DH) 21:09.1; 13. Aubrey Frey (MV-L) 21:10.6; 14. Laura Swart (MV-L) 21:16.5; 15. Bailey Boddicker (NS) 21:17.4

Regina – 17. Annalee Bartles 21:20.6; 30. Mya Whitaker 22:15.9; 39. Josie Voss 23:21.8; 41. Josie Pursley 23:27.6; 43. Kennedy Scott 23:38.3; 57. Allison Hein 25:22.7; 59. Claire Gaarde 25:34.6

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