City High Junior Burns Continues Strong Season With Sixth-place Finish at Bud Williams Invitational
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Abigail Burns made a sizeable jump last season as a sophomore going from varsity contributor as a freshman to a front of the pack runner for City High.
This season Burns has made another jump and is pushing to becoming one of the top runners in Class 4A.
Burns continued her strong junior season on Thursday finishing sixth overall in a loaded field at the Bud Williams Invitational at Kickers Soccer Complex in Iowa City.
“I am just believing in myself and knowing I can compete at these high levels,” Burns said. “I’m just proving to people that I can do this.”
Burns closed last season strong with top-10 finishes at the final three meets before placing 40th at the Class 4A state meet.
This fall Burns has picked up where she left on a year ago and a month before the state meet has pushed into the top 15 in the Class 4A individual rankings.
“Abigail is running lights out,” City High coach Ryan Ahlers said. “She has goals and she goes after them and it’s just awesome to see.”
On Thursday Burns showed she is capable of competing against of the best in the state.
Burns finished sixth overall in a time of 19:17.4 in a field that featured the top two runners in Class 3A in the Pella duo of Marissa Ferebee and Elsie Brenneman and 4A second-ranked Anika Mohrhauser of Ankeny Centennial.
“I tried to get out fast but not too fast and whenever someone passed me I tried to stick with them and eventually make a move on them,” Burns said. “I felt really strong today.”
The sixth-place finish from Burns helped Class 4A seventh-ranked City High to a fourth-place team finish at its home invitational with 97 points.
Class 3A top-ranked Pella won the team title with 41 points followed by 4A fourth-ranked Dubuque Senior with 61 points and 4A third-ranked Ankeny Centennial with 80 points.
Class 4A No. 10 Dubuque Hempstead was fifth, 4A No. 18 Cedar Rapids Prairie was sixth and 3A No. 14 Clear Creek Amana was seventh.
“When I first started coaching I wanted to start inviting some bigger teams to this meet and there were a couple of years we won this meet but we want to race those high ranked teams,” Ahlers said. “You want to see those teams at meets like this. You want to see where you are at next to those teams.”
Led by Burns City High had four runners finish in the top 25.
Nicole Peterson was 16th in 19:59.8 and sophomore Grace Hamann was 21st in 20:14.6.
Eliza Doster finished 20:23.7.
“We had a lot of runners do great things today,” Ahlers said. “We are competing well and I think we are in a good position going forward.”
Bud Williams Invitational
At Kickers Soccer Complex
Team scores – 1. Pella 41; 2. Dubuque Senior 61; 3. Ankeny Centennial 80; 4. City High 97; 5. Dubuque Hempstead 110; 6. Cedar Rapids Prairie 213; 7. Clear Creek Amana 218; 8. Des Moines Roosevelt 238; 9. Moline 248; 10. Hillcrest Academy 279; 11. Pekin 307; 12. Ottumwa 343; 13. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 355
Individual leaders – 1. Marissa Ferebee (PEL) 17:47.6; 2. Elsie Brenneman (PEL) 18:11.1; 3. Anika Mohrhauser (AC) 18:57.8; 4. Emma Chesterman (DS) 19:08.6; 5. Chloe Glosser (PEK) 19:11.2; 6. Abigail Burns (ICH) 19:17.4; 7. Evie Henneberry (DH) 19:19.6; 8. Haley Hveem (AC) 19:28.6; 9. Ruth Dunham (PEL) 19:37.6; 10. Claire Hoyer (DS) 19:38.5; 11. Mara Schiebout (PEL) 19:38.8; 12. Emily Gorton (DS) 19:43; 13. Nevaeh Kessler (DS) 19:54.7; 14. Marie Yoder (HA) 19:57.8. 15. Bella Hodges (AC) 19:58.4.
City High (97) – 6. Abigail Burns 19:17.4; 16. Nicole Peterson 19:59.8; 21. Grace Hamann 20:14.6; 25. Eliza Doster 20:23.7; 29. Calissa Fruin 20:46; 32. Nina Peterson 21:04.4; 35. Madeline Fischer 21:10.3
Clear Creek Amana (218) – 34. Kira Barker 21:09.9; 43. Raegan Wyant 21:41.7; 46. Kadence Whitmer 21:48.5; 58. Eva Leighton-Dick 22:53; 61. Kelsey Leathers 23:14.6; 68. Holley Schulte 23:37.7; 73. Keira Rosenberg 23:52.4
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