Prep Cross Country: Van Buren County Puts their Boys’ and Girls’ Teams in the Top 10

Prep Cross Country- The Iowa Association of Track Coaches released the team rankings for all four classes and eight of our local teams made the top 20 in their respective class.

Class 3A

Despite not having any runners ranked in the top 30 individually, the Fort Madison boys have a strong team as the Bloodhounds rank 17^th. The team grabbed an easy victory at the Keokuk Invite after five of their runners finished in the top 13, including a 2^nd place finish by Riley Tripp.

This was on the heels on a 2^nd place finish at the Prairie Invite.

Rounding out the top 20 is Washington with the help of #16 Andrew Rees. The Demons have finished in 5^th place at both the Anamosa Meet and the Bob Brown Invitational to start the season.

On the girls’ side, Fort Madison had all seven of their runners finish in the top 13 at the Keokuk Invite, including a sweep of their pole positions with Avery Rump turning in a sub-19-minute time. The Bloodhounds are ranked #9 after that impressive performance.

Class 2A

The Mediapolis boys’ team snuck into the top 20 at #19 after claiming 5^th place at the Williamsburg Invitational to start the season. The Bulldogs return three state qualifiers, yet only Simon Wendel was the lone runner ranked individually this week.

Class 1A

The Columbus boys’ team enter this week’s rankings a step higher than Van Buren County after winning the Early Bird Meet at Hillcrest Academy, while the Warriors finished 2^nd at the Wildwood Meet.

Aptly, the Wildcats are ranked 8^th, and the Warriors are at #9.

WACO is not too far behind after taking 2^nd place as a team in the Early Bird Meet. Aided by the #10 runner in the class Jude Dykstra, the Warriors are ranked 14^th.

All three teams will have to wait until September 18^th at the Timm Lamb Invitational to run against one another.

On the girls’ side, Van Buren County is off to a great start this season, snatching 2^nd place at the Albia Meet and 1^st place at the Wildwood Meet. Accordingly, the Warriors enter the third week of rankings at #8.

In both meets, the Warriors have had at least two runners finish in the top 10 with Kayley Snowgren clinching 5^th place at Albia and 4^th place at Wildwood to lead the team. Freshman Adalyn Snowgren consistently gives the Warriors three runners competing for the top 10 with Rylee Philips in the mix.