Prep Cross Country- The Iowa Track Coaches Association (IATC) released their 7th edition of the Iowa high school team rankings, and three local teams are ranked within the top ten after a week of races.
Class 3A
Starting with the boys’ rankings, Washington remained put at #8 after winning their own invitational after their only ranked runner, #22 Tyler Alderton, won the gold over Andrew Rees by six-tenths of a second.
Overall, their squad had all scoring runners finish in the top 10 at their invitational, defeating Fort Madison by 25 points.
Speaking of the Bloodhounds, Fort Madison gained a spot in the rankings from 18th last week to 17th this week. Their 2nd place finish as a team in the Washington Invitational was their only appearance last week.
Jacob Shottenkirk, who saw time in the early season rankings, along with Riley Tripp lead this squad as their times hovered around 17 minutes and 30 seconds last Tuesday.
On the girls’ side, Fort Madison fell two spots to #5 in the rankings. The Bloodhounds edged out a win against the hosts at the Washington Invitational as Avery Rump took 4th place and their final scoring runner, McKayla Schinstock, grabbed 14th place.
Class 2A
Mediapolis, anchored by #12 Will Schmidgall, continues to round out the top 20 after no move in the rankings. The Bulldogs did not have a meet last week, hence the idle nature in the rankings.
Class 1A
The boys’ rankings continue to be populated by southeast Iowa teams as Danville enters this week at #5 in the rankings. A trip to Williamsburg saw the Bears finish in 6th as a team in a tough meet. Jackson Shacklett leads this team with Nick Powell and Isaac Shinn offering ample help.
Columbus fell back three spots in the rankings to #12 after collecting a 6th place team finish at Wartburg College over the weekend. #15 Ty Muniz is the backbone of this squad as he raced to a 6th place time of 16 minutes and 47 seconds.
Van Buren County had a bye week and remained at #15 in the rankings.
Lastly, the Danville girls’ team retreated two spots in the rankings from 17th to 15th. The Bears struggled at Williamsburg, taking 11h place as a team with Alaina Gourley’s 10th place time of 19 minutes and 48 seconds leading the way.