The Hampton-Dumont-CAL, West Fork and Clarksville cross country teams enjoyed the cooler weather and turned in multiple top 25 placings at Bulldog Invite on Thursday at Maynes Grove.
The H-D-CAL girls placed fourth with 82 points, as five Bulldog runners placed in the top 25, led by MacKenzy Valley in 11th in 22:55. Lily Hambly placed 14th with a season best time of 23:26.6, followed by Brooklyn Valley in 15th, Jordan Valley in 18th and Marlee Maas in 25th.
The West Fork girls placed fifth with 100 points, as four Warhawks crossed the finish line inside the top 25, Evelyn Hitzhusen led the way in ninth in 22:35.8, followed by Addyson Moellers in 13th in 23:16, Ellie Harms and Jana Harms finished back to back in 23rd and 24th respectively.
Clarksville did not register a team score. The Indians were led by a 19th place finish by Eve Jordan in 24:02.
The West Fork boys placed second with 52 points as five runners put in top 15 times. Xavier Haller was the front runner for the Warhawks meddling in fourth place in 18:08.4, Ashyr Wiseman was 10th in 19:01 with Aaron Ihrke right behind him in 11th in 19:02.5, Owen Wedmore was 13th and Kaden Graf was 14th.
The H-D-CAL boys placed sixth with 129 points. Conner Miller crossed inside the top 20 in 17th place in 19:30 and William Vosburg was 22nd in 20:29.
H-D-CAL Head Coach Traci Moorehead on a bonus of home meet and progressing toward conference meet.
“We had lots of support from teachers and classmates and all that sort of stuff we appreciate it. It’s fun to be able to run in front of a home crowd that people are cheering around all the corners,” says Moorehead. “With cross country, you hope as the season continues to go on, you get in better shape and your times are going lower and everything like that. Next week we run up at Lake Mills and then we’re back here the following week for our conference meet. Running this we already know what to expect and hopefully it’s another overcast cooler day and we can come out and do the same.”
H-D-CAL’s next meet will be Monday at Lake Mills. West Fork’s next meet will be at Eagle Grove on Tuesday. Clarksville will run at Cedar Falls on Tuesday.
West Fork Sophomore Evelyn Hitzhusen – 9th place
H-D-CAL Freshman MacKenzy Valley – 11th place
West Fork Senior Xavier Haller – 4th place
H-D-CAL Sophmore Conner Miller – 17th place
