Tiea Wins Individual Crown as West High Takes Team Title at Home Invitational
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – It has become a familiar scene to see Moustafa Tiea leading the pack on the track or cross country course.
That’s not the only time Tiea is leading.
The West High senior is a leader in the classrooms and hallways at West High and serves as the student government president.
“He is the class president at West and I think that speaks a lot to where is he is aligned with his peers,” West High coach Josh Kidman said. “He’s kind of a natural born leader, people want to follow him.”
With West High in the middle of a busy week of homecoming festivities Tiea found a way to lead on Tuesday.
Tiea won the individual title at the West High Invitational helping the Trojans claim the team crown at their own meet at Ashton Cross Country Course in Iowa City.
“I have my homecoming spirit in me right now, as student government president I wanted to show that West is all that,” Tiea said. “This is our turf and on a week like this I wanted to find a way to get our school morale up.”
Tiea pulled away from a lead pack that featured three other runners to win the individual title in 16:11.8.
The title from Tiea helped West High win the team title by three points over Class 4A No. 16 Cedar Rapids Kennedy.
Freshman Michael Hanna finished seventh and sophomore Colin Wehrle was eighth for West High which finished with 37 points.
“On your home course you know it well you’ve got a good go point and we picked out a spot on the course and decided we were going to execute from a particular point and see if we could put together a race as a team,” Kidman said. “It went well for us today.”
Tuesday was all about Tiea who won the individual title at his home meet for the third consecutive season.
Tiea won the title in 16:11.8 pulling away from the Cedar Rapids Kennedy duo of Slader Buckheister and Adam Gray and Waverly-Shell Rock’s Austin Soldwisch over the final mile.
“From the start I set my pace and I went to the middle and everyone kind of collapsed in around,” Tiea said. “It worked out because instead of going out blazing fast like I did last race I just thought of it like an 800. I cruised and then I closed when I needed to.”
A standout on the track in the spring, Tiea adjusted his strategy on Tuesday after he felt like he was starting too fast in previous races.
On Tuesday Tiea tried to use the same race strategy that helped him become a state champion in the 800 meters.
“I jumped the gun, I would start really fast and I’d end up blowing up,” Tiea said. “Now I’ve found my expertise in really laying it down from 1K out. Stepping up from the shorter events I find it’s best to really lay it down when there is about three minutes left.”
Tiea finished nearly two seconds in front of Buckheister while Soldwisch was third in 16:14.1.
“Moustafa is a racer,” Kidman said. “It doesn’t really matter the distance if he feels like he has a chance he is going to execute pretty well.”
Hanna was seventh in a time of 17:14.1 and Wehrle was eighth in 17:14.2.
Sophomore Evan Merrill finished 10th in a time of 17:19.4 and senior Maxwell Bruss was 11th in 17:24.8.
“We get to train here some and we have run every single spot on this course,” Tiea said. “We knew that was something that could be to our advantage.”
Regina finished ninth with 227 points led by Evan White who finished 33rd in 18:44.9.
The Regina girls team finished seventh with 148 in the girls race and was led by Grace Erwin who placed 23rd in 22:39.8.
West High Invitational
At Ashton Cross Country Course
Team scores – 1. West High 37; 2. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 40; 3. Muscatine 113; 4. North Scott 126; 5. Davenport North 134; 6. Springville 138; 7. Waverly-Shell Rock 173; 8. Cedar Rapids Washington 196; 9. Regina 227
Individual leaders – 1. Moustafa Tiea (ICW) 16:11.8; 2. Slader Buckheister (CRK) 16:13.6; 3. Austin Soldwisch (W-SR) 16:14.1; 4. Adam Gray (CRK) 16:19.2; 5. Lincoln McMahan (CRK) 16:50.2; 6. JC Nuci (DN) 17:09.3; 7. Michael Hanna (ICW) 17:14.1; 8. Colin Wehrle (ICW) 17:14.2; 9. Jack McCarthy (NS) 17:17.5; 10. Evan Merrill (ICW) 17:19.4; 11. Maxwell Bruss (ICW) 17:24.8; 12. Talan Becker (MUS) 17:25.7; 13. Sam Showers (ICW) 17:25.7; 14. Reuben Schlaak (CRK) 17:26.3; 15. Nathaniel Goff (CRK) 17:26.9
West High (37) – 1. Moustafa Tiea 16:11.8; 7. Michael Hanna 17:14.1; 8. Colin Wehrle 17:14.2; 10. Evan Merrill 17:19.4; 11. Maxwell Bruss 17:24.8; 12. Sam Showers 17:25.7; 16. Jake Wieler 17:28.4
Regina (227) – 33. Evan White 18:44.9; 37. Lincoln Dardis 19:05.1; 44. Brendan Olney 19:31.1; 55. High Loening 20:21.7; 58. Colin Laubscher 20:58.3; 60. Landon Hoffman 22:38.2; 61. Huck Zahasky 22:47.1
Girls Results
West High Invitational
At Ashton Cross Country Course
Team scores – 1. Linn-Mar 21; 2. Muscatine 52; 3. North Scott 60; 4. Waverly-Shell Rock 134; 5. Cedar Rapids Washington 137; 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 145; 7. Regina 148
Individual leaders – 1. Hailey Kozloski (L-M) 19:43.6; 2. Anna Temple (L-M) 20:36.7; 3. Addison Merritt (SPR) 20:40.5; 4. Avery Bradley (MUS) 20:49.3; 5. Whitney Estabrook (MUS) 21:09.2; 6. Gabby Mauren (L-M) 21:12.3; 7. Addie Domer (L-M) 21:25.7; 8. Brynna Gander (L-M) 21:32.8; 9. Kate Blodig (NS) 21:36.7; 10. Natalie O’Flahrity (NS) 21:39.5; 11. Leah Paulson (L-M) 21:40.5; 12. Sophi Schneckloth (NS) 21:43; 13. Isabella Kopf (MUS) 21:44.4; 14. Bella Cole (L-M) 21:45.3; 15. Emily Hopkins (MUS) 21:45.5
Regina (148) – 23. Harper Erwin 22:39.8; 25. Ruby Eastman 23:01.3; 32. Caitlyn Bell 23:20.2; 36. Ali Brandt 23:35.2; 37. Etta Winders 23:39.2; 52. Ellie Johnson 25:34.9; 53. Chloe Pritchard 25:50
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