Dickinson keeps winning streak alive as Osky girls finished fifth, boys seventh at Big Red Invite

CENTERVILLE — The Oskaloosa cross country teams were in action on a cold, rainy day at the Centerville Big Red Invitational.

Once again, Sara Dickinson led the way with another easy victory covering the 4K course in 14:25 with Brooke VanHouweling taking the runner-up spot with a personal-best time of 15:51. Jess Grahek, Lyric Morris and Paige Walter finished in 33rd, 35th and 40th places respectively.

The Indians finished with 111 points to finish in fifth place in the 8-team meet. Courtney Converse and Alisha Poncy also ran for the Indians.

“I thought that our girls ran really strong tonight,” Oskaloosa coach Keith Comfort said. “The cold, wet and windy conditions made for a tough running night, but I thought the girls were able to overcome the weather and run some very good times. I think all the girls ran season best times, or close to it. Our 3–7 runners all had breakthroughs tonight and I am really happy with that. We are slowly getting to the point that we can be competitive. We were just one point from fourth and eight points from third.”

The junior varsity girls also ran well with Dana VanRhenterghem leading the way with a 17th-place finish in a time of 19:44.

“Five of our JV runners ran season best times. Dana ran a strong race as did all the girls. All the girls looked strong and raced really hard. I was very happy with Amanda Stefaniks race as she ran a great time and raced really hard. She has shown consistent improvement all year,” Comfort said.

The varsity boys finished in seventh place in the 7-team field with a score of 152 points. Ryan McPherren was the top finisher with a 23rd-place time of 19:40. Isaiah Thompson ran 19:53 to finish in 26th place.

“Our times were not as fast as last week, but the boys race ended up being a little long due to a mixup,” Comfort said. “Shannon Koski, Bryan Kunz and Ryan Wells ran good races tonight. We were missing our No. 1 runner tonight due to illness, but the others ran well and raced pretty hard. Again, the conditions were not the best, but I thought the boys were able to overcome the weather. We’re still looking to run a complete race by everyone, and hopefully we can accomplish that at the conference meet next week. It seems every week one person or another is sick or hurt or has an off day.”

Jon Fash and Martin Hassel led the JV boys finishing in 9th and 10th place respectively with times of 20:15 and 20:18.

“The boys all raced hard and I continue to see improvement weekly from them. Times are not always a good indicator of effort, but I could see the effort tonight,” Comfort said.

The middle school teams also ran and did well.

The girls had four of the top 15 finishers with Sarandyn Curtis in 10th, Riley Berg in 12th, Stephanie Smith in 14th and Aubrey Netten in 15th.

“All the girls ran well and I was especially happy to see Aubrey run tonight,” Comfort said. “It was her first race of the year due to an illness and she looked strong and did a good job. Sarandyn, Riley and Stephanie have been very consistent for us all year. The girls have shown steady improvement all year as we get ready for the conference meet next week.”

The boys were led by Adam Genskow and Bryan Herr in 22nd and 28th places.

“I saw some real racing going on with our boys tonight and they are improving weekly,” Comfort said.



Big Red Invitational

Girls

Large School

Team standings — 1. Ottumwa 35, 2. Knoxville 79, 3. Mount Peasant 103, 4. Fairfield 110, 5. Oskaloosa 111, 6. Centerville 117, 7. Fort Madison 179, 8. Chariton 209.

Oskaloosa — 1. Sara Dickinson 14:25, 2. Brooke Van Houweling 15:51, 33. Jessica Grahek 18:10; 35. Lyric Morris 18:27, 40. Paige Walter 18:40, 47. Courtney Converse 19:09, 50. Alisha Poncy 19:45.



Junior Varsity Results

Oskaloosa — 17. Dana VanRenterghem 19:44, 26. Avery Whitis 20:05, 27. Anthea Anderson 20:14, 39. Megan Adams 20:55, 43. Amanada Stefanik 21:28, 52. Mica Doolan 22:18, 63. Ginny Lane 25:18.



Middle School Results

Oskaloosa — 10. Sarandyn Curtis 11:50, 12. Riley Berg 11:51, 14. Stephanie Smith 12:03, 15. Audrey Netton 12:13, 22. Kelsie Tomlin 12:29, 28. Meghan Taubekis 12:43, 37. Heather Grahek 13:09, 39. Brook Beers 13:11, 43. Natalie Whitis 13:31, 44. Angela Hyland 13:40, 61. Emily Boxler 16:04, 65. Paula Busse 18:27.



Small School

Team standings — 1. Pella Christian 28, 2. Albia 65, 3. Twin Cedars 117.

Pella Christian — 1. Sarah Brandsen 16:19, 4. Michaela Martin 16:49, 6. Leah Dykstra 16:52, 8. Emily Van Hal 17:18, 9. Kim Van Zee 17:23, 15. Heather Brand 18:31, 21. Abigail Fincel 19:13.



Junior Varsity Result

Pella Christian — 46. Emily Van Genderen 21:40.



Boys

Large School

Team standings — 1. Fairfield 51, 2. Knoxville 68, Fort Madison 81, 4. Mount Pleasant 83, 5. Ottumwa 96, 6. Centerville 116, 7. Oskaloosa 152.

Oskaloosa — 23. Ryan McPherren 19:40, 26. Isaiah Thompson 19:53, 31. Shannon Koski 20:11, 33. Bryan Kunz 20:20, 34. Ryan Wells 20:25, 38. Max Holle 20:38, 43. Alex Gile 21:25.



Junior Varsity Results

Oskaloosa — 9. Jon Fash 20:15, 10. Martin Hassel 20:18, 20. Caden Smith 21:24, 23. Alex Hyland 21:37, 24. Matt McLellan 21:48, 33. Joel Buckallew 22:11, 43. Pat McPherren 22:48, 56. Brandon Wickenkamp 24:34, 60. Jacob Slobe 25:08, 67. Charlie Comfort 26:21, 69. Chris North 26:41, 70, Nathan Korell 26:47, 71. Jae Hoon Park 26:47, Ben Waters 31:09, Nicholas Lobberecht did not run.



Middle School Results

Oskaloosa — 22. Adam Genskow 11:48, 28. Bryan Herr 12:03, 45. Braden Higgins 13:02, 57. Tony Nimitz 17:01, 69. Andrew Busse 17:53, Ben Ruarp did not run.



Small School

Team standings

1. Pella Christian 34, 2. Albia 61, 3. Eddyville-Blakesburg 69, 4. Chariton 114, 5. Clarke 118, 6. Davis County 148, 7. Wayne 162.

Pella Christian — 2. Josh Meyer 18:27, 3. Devin Veenstra 18:55, 7. Conner Van Walbeek 19:14, 9. Skyler Giddings 19:25, 16. Jacob Dahm 20:18, 44. Micah Spoelstra 22:17.



Junior Varsity Result

Pella Christian — 57. Seth Ruiter 24:51.

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