Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – The City High girls cross country has a fairly straightforward racing strategy.

Stay with your teammate.

Think of it as a sort of buddy system for runners.

“With every race we do a lot of working together on where we want our teammates to be,” City High junior Lilly Reynolds said. “We always say if you can’t see one of your teammates you are doing it wrong.”

The buddy system approach paid big dividends for eighth-ranked City High on Thursday at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet.

City High put four runners in the top 29 and finished third in field that featured eight ranked teams on an overcast afternoon at Kickers Soccer Complex in Iowa City.

“We have a lot of girls fighting for positions and they fight with love for each other,” City High coach Ryan Ahlers said. “That’s how good cross country teams are made.”

The plan for City High is for each runner to stay within striking distance of a teammate, never letting that runner out of sight.

City High worked that plan to near perfection Thursday while finishing with 114 points.

Second-ranked Dubuque Senior won the team title with 72 followed by fourth-ranked Linn-Mar with 78.

The Little Hawks were four points in front of sixth-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie while Dubuque Hempstead was fifth and No. 15 Western Dubuque was sixth with 160.

3A No. 2 Dubuque Wahlert was seventh with 164 followed by No. 10 West High with 177 and No. 14 Liberty High with 196.

“It’s a great opportunity to see where you are at and get some good experience in a fairly high-pressure race because nine out of the 15 conference teams are ranked and Western Dubuque is ranked 15th and they are dang good team,” Ahlers said. “Senior is a team that can go win state our main is to get back there but then also place well. We don’t want to just get there and be happy we want to get back there and compete and keep the ball rolling.”

Sophomore Rowan Boulter notched a second straight top-10 finish at the Super Meet placing sixth in a 19:23 but it was City High’s buddy system balance that cemented a top-three finish.

Reynolds was 12th and freshmen Iris Wedemyer and Erin Anderson each posted top 30 finishes in their Super Meet debuts as the top four Little Hawk finishers were separated by 90 seconds.

“As a team I think we ran really well, we were all pretty close to each other which is all you can hope for,” Boulter said. “As an individual place-wise I was very happy and time-wise I don’t think it was as fast but it was a little muddy so I was happy with that.”

Boulter, who was eighth at the Super Meet last season as a freshman, was sitting outside the top 10 at the midway point but moved up over the final mile.

“The first mile I always kind of doubt myself because I don’t go out that fast so I doubt myself when people are all around me,” Boulter said. “The second mile everyone is backing off and that’s when I feel really good and I start picking people off.”

Reynolds moved up with her teammate, never letting Boulter get too far away while finishing 12th in 19:55.

The last time Reynolds ran the course at Kickers was two seasons ago when she finished in more than 27 minutes.

On Thursday she was one of only 13 runners to break the 20-minute mark and was just 15 seconds off a top-10 finish.

“I haven’t run this course since my freshman year when I ran 27 minutes so it’s been a long, long path since then and a lot has changed,” Reynolds said. “I really wanted to go out on this course and show an Iowa City course what’s up.”

Wedemeyer kept Reynolds in her sights, finishing 21st in 20:33 while Anderson wasn’t far off the pace of her classmate finishing 29th in 20:53.

“I was so happy with how we ran as a team,” Reynolds said. “I loved that I could see one of my teammates ahead of me and I could hear my teammates behind me. We just kept moving up as a team and it felt like we were really strong and cohesive together.”

Maddy Negley played 22nd in 20:35 to lead West High as the Women of Troy had four runners finish in the top 40.

Annie Schwartz was 35th in 20:59, Camden Zirker was 37th in 21:01 and Lucy Westemeyer was 38th in 21:02.

Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet

At Kickers Soccer Complex in Iowa City

Team scores – 1. Dubuque Senior 72; 2. Linn-Mar 78; 3. City High 114; 4. Cedar Rapids Prairie 118; 5. Dubuque Hempstead 128; 6. Western Dubuque 160; 7. Dubuque Wahlert 164; 8. West High 177; 9. Liberty High 196; 10. Cedar Falls 221; 11. Cedar Rapids Washington 320; 12. Cedar Rapids Xavier 364; 13. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 379; 14. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 443; 15. Waterloo 446

Individual leaders – 1. Ashlyn Keeney (ICL) 18:07; 2. Micah Poellet (L-M) 18:54; 3. Lillian Schmidt (DS) 19:11; 4. Claire Edmondson (DS) 19:16; 5. Chloe Skidmore (L-M) 19:16; 6. Rowan Boulter (ICH) 19:23; 7. Izzy Gorton (DS) 19:31; 8. Gabby Moran (DW) 19:36; 9. McKenzie Logan (ICL) 19:38; 10. Gabby Cortez (CRP) 19:40; 11. Jordyn Beck (L-M) 19:53; 12. Lilly Reynolds (ICH) 19:55; 13. Mary Cline (CRW) 19:55; 14. Lauren Klein (WD) 20:02; 15. Hannah Brown (DH) 20:11

City High – 6. Rowan Boulter 19:23; 12. Lilly Reynolds 19:55; 21. Iris Wedemeyer 20:33; 29. Erin Anderson 20:53; 46. Esti Brady 21:18; 48. Jordan Sekafetz 21:26; 54. Lucy Corbin 21:32

West High – 22. Maddy Negley 20:35; 35. Annie Schwartz 20:59; 37. Camden Zirker 21:01; 38. Lucy Westemeyer 21:02; 45. Erica Buetner 21:17; 56. Emma Kearney 21:42; 61. Sara Alaya 22:02

Liberty High – 1. Ashlyn Keeney 18:07; 9. McKenzie Logan 19:38; 58. Cami Mac 21:49; 60. Isabelle Woody 22:00; 68. Carly Sulwer 22:17; 76. Elizabeth Jaeger 22:57; 80. Malia Taylor 23:12

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