Prep Country- The Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC) released the penultimate team and individual rankings as our local teams gear up for their conference meets. As the number of meets slows down, runners were ousted from the rankings.
Class 3A
As one of our few local teams to have multiple meets last week, Washington’s Andrew Rees, whose reemergence into the top 25 allowed for his team to latch onto the top 20 last week, moved three spots into the top 20 up to #19.
Rees took home the gold medal at the Hillcrest Academy Invitational and secured a faster time at the Bob Mudd Lynx Invitational over the weekend for a 2nd place time of 16 minutes and 34 seconds.
Akin to their top runner, the Demons pulled 1st place at Hillcrest and narrowly fell to Solon for the silver medal at the Bob Mudd Invitational. The effort proved to not be enough to keep the team ranked as the Demons were left out of the top 20.
Unfortunately, Iris Dahl for the Washington girls’ team was knocked out of the individual rankings after not running at Hillcrest and grabbing 10th place at their meet over the weekend with a time of 20 minutes and 24 seconds.
Staying on the girls’ side, Mt. Pleasant’s Avery Fedler collected another gold medal for her young career at the Mediapolis Invite, but her time of 20 minutes flat was slower than her typical marks, leading to the Panther being knocked down at spot from #6 to #7.
In the same tone, Fort Madison’s Avery Rump helped lead the Bloodhounds to a team victory at Centerville this past week with a 2nd time of 19 minutes and 10 seconds. That time did result in Rump tumbling from #11 in the rankings to #13. The team consistency kept the Bloodhounds at #5 in the rankings.
The Fort Madison boys’ team took 1st place as a team at Centerville, but the Bloodhounds backpedaled to #16 in the rankings, two spots back from where they started last week.
Class 2A
The Mediapolis boys’ team defended their home turf well as the Bulldogs not only won the meet by 21 points, but also had their top two runners finish within four seconds of one another for 1st and 2nd place.
#9 Simon Wendel stayed put in the rankings after claiming the gold with a time of 16 minutes and 34 seconds, while Will Schmidgall, with his best time of the season at 16 minutes and 38 seconds, leapfrogged up the rankings to #15 from #17.
The Bulldogs were awarded with a three-spot climb in the rankings to #13.
Class 1A
The WACO boys’ and girls’ teams continue to prove themselves to be the top brass of the conference. At the Mike Jay Invitational, the WACO boys’ team grabbed the victory with east as four of their top five runners finished within the top 10.
Anchoring the Warriors was Jude Dykstra’s mark of 16 minutes and 52 seconds, which was good enough for 1st place and four step climb in the rankings from #10 to #6.
After getting Locken Henderson back after missing the first half of the season, the WACO boys’ team can be a squad that contends for the state championship as the IATC slots them at #4.
The Columbus boys’ team barely held onto their spot in the top 10 at #10 after claiming 2nd place at the Mike Jay Invitational. The Wildcats lack a superstar, but their team consistency more than makes up for that.
WACO’s Josie Dykstra moved up on the girls’ side after clocking a time of 20 minutes and 51 seconds for 2nd place at the Mike Jay Invitational. The Warrior is now ranked #23.
Van Buren County’s Lincoln Bainbridge was taken out of the top 30 as the Warriors did not have a scheduled meet and despite a 3rd place finish at the Mediapolis meet, Alaina Gourley of Danville, who found her way into the rankings for the first time since September 1st, was ousted from the top 30.
As stated in the previous paragraph, Van Buren County did see their team standings slide slightly after a week without a race with the boys’ team slinking back from #12 to #14 and the girls’ team moving back one spot to #8.