Solon Continues Breakthrough Season With Team Title at Home Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
SOLON – The growth of the Solon boys cross country team this season has been well documented.
To see just how the Spartans have come this season look no further than Monday’s Solon Invitational.
A year after finishing seventh out of eight teams at its home meet Class 3A fifth-ranked Solon put three runners in the top nine and won the team title at its own meet Monday at the Solon Nature and Recreation Area.
“We’ve come quite a ways,” Solon junior Gabe Hinman said. “It’s definitely a lot more fun to run on team this year because there is so much more happening.”
Hinman led four Solon runners in the top 12 with a fourth-place finish as the Spartans finished with 52 points, seven points in front of Class 4A Bettendorf for the team title.
Class 3A seventh-ranked Mount Vernon-Lisbon was third with 64 points while 2A No. 5 Tipton was fourth with 75 points.
“We are really making strides this season,” Solon senior Tyler Bilskie said. “Our freshman are running really well so we just keep getting better.”
At last season’s Solon Invite Hinman placed 13th and was the only Spartan in the top 30.
It was a different story for a much different Solon team on Monday.
Led by Hinman, who was fourth in a time of 17:12, each of the top five Solon finishers placed in the top 21.
Seniors Bilskie and Ben DeValk were sixth and 12th respectively and freshman Brick Kabela was ninth.
“We have made a lot of improvement as a team for sure,” Hinman said. “We have Ben and Tyler in direct competition with me and we have a couple of great freshmen that have come up.”
The emergence of Bilskie and DeValk has played a key role in the Spartans’ surge up the Class 3A pecking order this season.
Both Bilskie and DeValk have developed into front of the pack competitors alongside Hinman who is already a two-time state qualifier.
The addition of talented freshman in Kabela and Michael Yeomans has created quality depth throughout the Spartan lineup.
“I think it’s on race day where you see it the most,” Hinman said of the increased competition within the team. “It’s nice to have people to run with at practice but definitely looking back and being able to see three or four Solon guys puts a spring in your step.”
The time of 17:16.8 for Bilskie on Monday was more than 90 seconds faster than his Solon Invite time from last season while DeValk took nearly a minute off his time from a year ago while placing 12th in 17:49.
“It’s just fun to have everybody here cheering us on,” Bilskie said. “During the race it’s amazing to see the support. You can feel it when you are running and you have everybody in the community cheering you on.”
Kabela clocked a 17:32.7 to place ninth while Yeomans was 21st in 18:19.
Running at its home course was also a factor for Solon on Monday which has won each of its past three meets this season.
“Out there in the woods, that’s the advantage running here,” Hinman said. “Nobody seems to recognize how soft and lumpy it’s going to be.”
Solon Invitational
At Solon Nature and Recreation Area
Team Scores – 1. Solon 52; 2. Bettendorf 59; 3. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 64; 4. Tipton 64; 5. Williamsburg 114; 6. Davenport North 153; 7. Central DeWitt 185
Individual leaders – 1. Caleb Shumaker (TIP) 16:29.7; 2. Nick Moore (BET) 17:01.9; 3. Chase Wakefield (BET) 17:06.8; 4. Gabe Hinman (SOL) 17:12; 5. Zach Fall (MV-L) 17:16.2; 6. Tyler Bilskie (SOL) 17:16.8; 7. Cody Bohlmann (TIP) 17:30.6; 8. Eli Dickson (MV-L) 17:30.8; 9. Brick Kabela (SOL) 17:32.7; 10. Carter Wolf (BET) 17:41.4
Solon (52) – 4. Gabe Hinman 17:12; 6. Tyler Bilskie 17:16.8; 9. Brick Kabela 17:32.7; 12. Ben DeValk 17:49.1; 21. Michael Yeomans 18:19; 27. Nate Ferguson 18:36.8; 37. Gabe Yetley 20:06.2
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