Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

CEDAR RAPIDS – For the second year in a row Kolby Greiner opened the season with an individual championship.  

After defending his title at the 21-team Cedar Rapids Prairie Invitational on Saturday Greiner was more interested in discussing how his West High team would finish the season than how he started it.

“More than ever I am a team guy right now, I am hungry for my team, it’s all about them right now and what I can do for them,” Greiner explained. “I think honestly they’ve come to win a state title and I don’t think anyone is really expecting us to be up there but we are going to tell ourselves we can do it.”

The title by Greiner helped Class 4A eighth-ranked West High to a fourth-place team finish with 147 points.

No. 5 Waukee won the team title with 73 points followed by No. 7 Cedar Rapids Prairie with 124 and Cedar Falls with 138.

West High had five finishers in the top 50 and finished 19 points in place of fifth-place Clear Creek Amana.

“They surprise me, they are hungry,” Greiner said of his teammates. “They are very hungry. We came into and said we are going to hold our heads high no matter we did.”

Senior Yusif Salama was 11th in 17:56.9 and Ken Wilbur finished 43rd in 18:45.9 for West High to go with Greiner’s title.

According to Greiner the work ethic of his teammates has been important as he works his way back from an injury that derailed his junior season.

“I can honestly say this is the best group of guys I have ever been with in my life,” Greiner said. “We have really created a brotherhood. They are the best group I really wouldn’t ask for anyone else.”

A healthy Greiner gives West High an individual state title contender.

Last season a serious back injury kept Greiner from earning a second consecutive state medal.

Greiner looked healthy on Saturday as he battled hot and humid conditions, a wet and muddy course and a strong field to claim his second consecutive title at the season-opening meet in 16:35.8.

“I think last year he definitely knows where he could have been, where he should have been without the injury,” first-year West High coach Josh Kidman said. “He can kind of erase that from his mind and have confidence knowing from his sophomore year to know those prs add up. He has some really fast two-mile prs, some really fast cross country prs so he should be fine.”

Greiner opened the season ranked fifth in the Class 4A individual rankings.

He was even with second-ranked Jack Pendergast at the halfway point on Saturday but pulled away and finished more than 20 seconds in front of the Cedar Rapids Prairie junior.

The time for Greiner was nearly 30 seconds off his winning pace from last year which came on a day with temperatures in the low 60s with now win.

Temperatures had already climbed into the mid-80s with high humidity by the time the varsity race began on Saturday morning.

“It was pretty tough,” Greiner said. “Heat and me do not get along.”

Greiner navigated the conditions well for a season-opening meet.

Pendergast was second in 16:56.1 and joined Greiner as the only runners to break 17 minutes.

“The temperature is not extremely high but you add some humidity in the mix and not a cloud in the sky and then a 5K gets them,” Kidman said. “Definitely a lot of training goes into this first race and it’s quite the test with the high humidity.”

Cedar Rapids Prairie Invite

Boys Results

Team scores – 1. Waukee 73; 2. Cedar Rapids Prairie 124; 3. Cedar Falls 138; 4. West High 147; 5. Clear Creek Amana 166; 6. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 167; 7. Western Dubuque 205; 8. Marion 205; 9. Linn-Mar 248; 10. Muscatine 249; 11. Cedar Rapids Washington 274; 12. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 287; 13. Mason City 302; 14. Davenport West 319; 15. Monticello 390; 16. Cedar Rapids Xavier 439; 17. Fort Madison 477; 18. Solon 482; 19. Mid-Prairie 486; 20. Cascade 588; 21. Maquoketa 620

Individual leaders – 1. Kolby Greiner (ICW) 16:35.8; 2. Jack Pendergast (CRP) 16:56.1; 3. Jacob Green (CRK) 17:04.1; 4. Moe Smith (WAU) 17:11.5; 5. Colton LaGrange (CRP) 17:16.9; 6. Dylan Dolezal (LM) 17:25.8; 7. Paul Schneidermann (CRW) 17:32.3; 8. Brandon Conrad (CF) 17:38.4; 9. Travis Loecke (WAU) 17:45.1; 10. Brandon Barker (CCA) 17:49.1

West High – 1. Kolby Greiner 16:35.8; 11. Yusif Salama 17:56.9; 43. Kenneth Wilbur 18:45.9; 47. Alexander Wang 18:48.4; 48. Raymond Yang 18:49.3; 51. Ian Prescott 18:52.3; 75. Julian Wemmie, 19:35.7

Clear Creek Amana – 10. Brandon Barker 17:49.1; 26. Cole Liebe 18:27.3; 30. Jack Sexton 18:37.3; 45. Nick O’Connor 18:46.4; 59. Kaden McAreavy 19:15.4; 72. Gavin Zillyette 19:32.9; 85. Caleb Alcorn 19:48.8

Solon – 62. Gabe Hinman 19:25.1; 82. Oliver Burns 19:45.8; 110. Andrew Bransky 20:37.7; 116. Tyler Bilskie 20:46.7; 117. Brad Yeomans 20:47.5; 118. Edward Richey 20:49.4; 133. Jake Roskopf 21:37.4

Cedar Rapids Prairie Invite

Girls Results

Team scores – 1. Waukee 35; 2. Mid-Prairie 119; 3. Cedar Falls 124; 4. Cedar Rapids Prairie 158; 5. Linn-Mar 173; 6. Cedar Rapids Washington 191; 7. Solon 205; 8. Cascade 249; 9. Mason City 256; 10. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 259; 11. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 283; 12. Marion 291; 13. Muscatine 314; 14. Monticello 366; 15. Western Dubuque 376; 16. Cedar Rapids Xavier 394; 17. Davenport West 406; 18. Anamosa 418

Individual leaders – 1. Marie Hostetler (MP) 18:53.5; 2. Micah Poellet (LM) 19:03.2; 3. Peyton Kelderman (WAU) 20:06.6; 4. Reagan Gorman (CRW) 20:09.3; 5. Madison Judas (WAU) 20:32.3; 6. Kendall White (CRP) 20:44.8; 7. Sydney Schaffer (WAU) 20:48.9; 8. Lindsey Kelderman (WAU) 20:56.3; 9. Chloe Skidmore (LM) 21:02.4; 10. Aubrey Frey (MV-L) 21:30.3

Solon – 28. Emma Bock 22:25.2; 30. Kaia Holtkamp 22:27.3; 46. Kiersten Conway 23:08.9; 47. Ella Duster 23.14.7; 54. Nicole Shafer 23:22.7; 71. Meghan O’Neill 24.21.5; 84. Saige Hauer 24:51.9

Clear Creek Amana – 26. Kaylie Barker 22:15.6; 138. Allie Kounkel 26:19.4; 166. Olivia Smyka 30:58.9; 167. Alexis Ponce 31:58.7