Mt. Pleasant, IA- It was a star-studded cast at the Mt. Pleasant High School grounds for the Panthers’ invitational last night. A cast that included that included six Iowa Association of Track Coaches (IATC) teams and 12 top 30 runners for their respective classes.
Yet, it was an unranked runner that helped the host team sweep the large class division individual titles. Here’s how everything shook out.
(Avery Fedler celebrating with her family)
In the girls’ large class division, Mt. Pleasant took 2nd place as a team, finishing behind Fort Madison, thanks to #3 Avery Fedler’s top time of the meet at 18 minutes and 53 seconds. The freshman has greatly added to her workout routine to keep her pace up,
“I think one thing I’ve really worked on is building my mileage. So, in middle school I probably wasn’t running more than 10 miles a week, and I’ve built it up to like 30 miles a week, 10 miles is not ideal for any kind of mid distance runner, so building my mileage is definitely the key factor in my success.”
The race was tight with #12 Avery Rump running side-by-side with her for most of the race until Fedler pushed away for a 10-second cushion. This competitive field of southeast Iowa has pushed Fedler to improve her mental game,
“Yeah, I think it really helps my probably mental space almost the most because I’m not used to racing other people, so being able to race other people really helps me because it’s not really an easy thing to do. So, it gets kind of scary when you never have to do it. So bracing people every week is really making me mentally stronger.”
Panther head coach Lyle Murray was happy with his team’s success for the home meet,
“So we had, with the exception of Avery Fedler, season bests across the board. She was pretty close. So, it’s not like she had a bad race. Our course is legit. It’s the right distance. So, she probably did season best as well. I thought they all ran well. They got out quick. Avery Fedler said her first mile was a little quick. But we’re going to go to state here in a few weeks. And so she’s got to know it’s going to feel like, because it’s going to be fast at state and state qualifier. I thought they all did well.”
Mt. Pleasant’s Quintrie Lee finished right outside the podium with a 4th place time of 20 minutes and 10 seconds. Nelle Peterson, a senior, clocked a time of 23 minutes and 37 seconds and Molly Baker finished inside the 25-minute plateau.
Alex Jo Steward of Fairfield claimed 10th place with a time of 22 minutes and 32 seconds as the Trojans finished in 4th place with 87 points.
In the small class division for the girls’, WACO’s Josie Dykstra nearly broke the 20-minute barrier with a time of 20 minutes and 2 seconds, which was good enough for the bronze. Macie Carter also had an excellent day for the Warriors with a 5th place time of 20 minutes and 50 seconds.
Danville’s Alaina Gourley turned in a 4th place time of 20 minutes and 30 seconds.
Central Lee finished in 3rd as a team as they were anchored by Aubree Bunnell and Macy Anderson’s top 10 finishes. Avery Dietz led Mediapolis with a time of 22 minutes and 52 seconds. Gabriela Duran and Iris Garza finished with an identical time of 23 minutes and 48 seconds for Columbus, while Irelynn Kelly of New London clocked a time of 28 minutes and 39 seconds.
#1 Mid-Prairie snatched the title with 24 points as #7 Brooklyn Stutzman won the race with a time of 19 minutes and 13 seconds. The Golden Hawks were missing three of their top 15 runners.
On the boys’ side of the large class division, Mt. Pleasant’s Silas Hulett shocked the field, besting a ranked runner in Fort Madison’s #28 Riley Tripp with a time of 17 minutes-flat and the gold. Surprisingly, Hulett did not feel well heading into the race,
“I just kind of went out, I wasn’t feeling really good today and I just wanted to run my own race. I wasn’t trying to go that hard, and I figured if I don’t PR, it’s room for another day.”
In case you were questioning if that was a great time, look no further than his head coach Mitch Anderson’s prognosis of Hulett’s run,
“[Hulett] Had a monster race tonight to win the large class division. Best race of his career. Ran like you want to at your home meet.”
Fort Madison still ran away with the team title with 26 total points. Fairfield’s John Miller claimed 12th place with a time of 18 minutes and 53 seconds. Mt. Pleasant took 4th place as a team with 93 points followed by Fairfield with 97 points.
It was a tight finish in the boys’ small class division, Mediapolis’ #5 Simon Wendel led for most of the race until #11 Jude Dykstra of WACO flew in to steal the win on the final straightaway by three seconds with a time of 16 minutes and 23 seconds. Dykstra always loves the home reunion,
“Not really. I think I am more motivated coming back to Mount Pleasant just to, I don’t know the home crowd. I know so many people here and it’s a great environment.”
Locken Henderson’s time of 17 minutes and 17 seconds and Garrett Landau’s mark of 17 minutes and 34 seconds, both top 10 times helped the #11 Warriors usurp #5 Columbus by nearly 20 points.
Despite Will Schmidgall taking the bronze with a time of 16 minutes and 49 seconds, Mediapolis finished in 3rd place as a team with 73 points.
Isaac Shinn of Danville finished in 9th place with a time of 17 minutes and 37 seconds, while Ryan Villa of Columbus rounded out the top 10. Kevin Villa, Drake Marin, Victor Tovar, Cade Storm, and Elia Gonzalez, Bravo finished in 12th through 16th place, respectively.
Central Lee’s Caden Crozier claimed a time of 18 minutes and 52 seconds and Brayden Cline led Winfield-Mt. Union with a time of 20 minutes and 5 seconds. Lastly, Zayden Lawrence of New London clocked a time of 21 minutes and 5 seconds.
Coach Murray loved seeing the community spirit with Mt. Pleasant getting to host a race,
“It’s awesome to have all the Mount Pleasant folks out. You know, the kids always get a little jacked up for it. We saw that in the start of the races a little bit on both sides, but it’s just great. You know, a lot of maroon and gold out here and we’ve got great fans, great helpers. You know, people are helping us run the course and the meet and stuff and can’t do it without them.”
Up Next
Van Buren County, Wapello, Mediapolis, and Burlington Notre Dame will run at the Grayhound Invite tomorrow, September 25th.
New London and Winfield-Mt. Union will make the trip to Clear Creek Amana for an invitational on Monday, September 29th.
Mt. Pleasant and Danville will participate in the Williamsburg Invitational on Tuesday, September 30th.
WACO and Fairfield will compete at the Washington Invitational on Tuesday.