Prairie Boys Cross Country

Pritts runs 3rd at Pleasant Valley meet

PLEASANT VALLEY - Mitch Pritts of Cedar Rapids Prairie finished third at the Pleasant Valley Invitational cross country meet at Crow Creek Park on Saturday.

Pritts covered the 5-kilometer course in 16 minutes, 10 seconds. His time matched runnerup Caleb Drake of Pleasant Valley, but Drake was awarded second place and Pritts got third.

Prairie finished in sixth place in the 12-team meet.

Will Burke of Edina won the race in 15:59 and led his team to the title.

The Prairie girls finished in seventh place in their race. Beth Heims led the Hawks in 29th place.

PLEASANT VALLEY INVITATIONAL
Crow Creek Park

BOYS RESULTS
5K

Team Standings
1. Edina 58, 2. Pleasant Valley 94, 3. Dubuque Senior 99, 4. Iowa City High 103, 5. Burlington 108, 6. Prairie 136, 7. Waukee 150, 8. Davenport Central 194, 9. Rock Island 268, 10. Davenport West 279, 11. Bettendorf 297, 12. North Scott 314.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Will Burke, Edina            15:59
2. Caleb Drake, PV              16:10
3. Mitch Pritts, Prairie        16:10
4. Blake Whalen, Dubuque Sr.    16:26
5. Eric Ikundiro, Rock Island   16:38
6. Mark Fairley, Dubuque Sr.    16:39
7. Brook Price, IC High         16:39
8. Ryan Dorman, IC High         16:40
9. Colin Ensminger, Burlington  16:41
10. Logan Ramlet, Edina         16:42

Prairie Runners

3. Mitch Pritts 16:10, 13. Isaiah Vlasek 16:45, 29. Zach Waite 17:19, 45. Luke Galloway 17:54, 46. Connor Neuhaus 17:56, 59. Ross Adams 18:57.

GIRLS RESULTS
4K

Team Standings
1. Pleasant Valley 26, 2. Naperville North 47, 3. Bettendorf 96, 4. Iowa City High 101, 5. Edina 126, 6. Dubuque Senior 137, 7. Prairie 223, 8. Rock Island 253, 9. North Scott 280, 10. Davenport West 288, 11. Davenport Central 318, 12. Burlington 369.

Top 10 Individuals
1. Claire Schwarz, PV          14:14
2. Kaley Ciluffo, PV           14:31
3. McKenzie Yanek, PV          14:37
4. Anna Peer, Bettendorf       14:40
5. Maria McDaniel, Naperville  14:46
6. Elly DeTurris, Naperville   14:47
7. Shannon Spalding, Edina     14:59
8. Kimber Meyer, Naperville    15:02
9. Maddie Reynolds, PV         15:11
10. Ellen Carman, IC High      15:17

Prairie Runners

29. Beth Heims 16:16, 41. Maddie Rainey 16:59, 48. Amanda Weyer 17:17, 52. Anna Rubsam 17:37, 53. Holly Wisnousky 17:43, 57. Abby Rubsam 17:55, 66. Katie Ockenfels 18:57.

Aune, Pritts 1st team all-Metro

Linn-Mar sophomore Josh Evans, who finished second in last weekend's Class 4A state cross country meet, is the Metro Male Athlete of the Year.

Evans beat all Iowa competitors he ran against until the state meet, where he ran the fifth fastest time in state meet history.

All seven members of the all-Metro team are unanimous selections. The Metro cross country coaches voted on the team.

Linn-Mar, Prairie and Washington has two members apiece and Marion's Lukas Mees fills out the team.

Prairie senior Jacob Aune finished fourth at the state Class 4A meet. Hawks sophomore Mitch Pritts also was on the first team.

Other members of the first team are Linn-Mar junior Chase Grabau, Washington senior Robert Hogg and Washington junior Etienne Nzoyisaba.

Coach of the Year is Will Harte and his Washington staff. The Warriors finished fourth at the state meet.

ALL-METRO BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
* - Unanimous selections

First Team
*Josh Evans (Linn-Mar), soph.
*Chase Grabau (Linn-Mar), jr.
*Lukas Mees (Marion), sr.
*Mitch Pritts (Prairie), soph.
*Jacob Aune (Prairie), sr.
*Robert Hogg (Washington), sr.
*Etienne Nzoyisaba (Washington), jr.

Second Team
Ben Schueler (Xavier), sr.
Isaiah Vlasek (Prairie), soph.
Ryan Walker (Kennedy), fr.
Trevor Oates (Kennedy), sr.
Laurent Hakizimana (Washington), sr.
Joe Berry (Washington), jr.
Tanner Rathje (Linn-Mar), soph.
Daniel Murphy (Linn-Mar), fr.

Honorable Mention
Kennedy - Austin Trotter, Matt Stevens
Prairie - Zach Waite, Christian Counts-Choplick, Jared Heitz
Jefferson - Taylor Mueller, Eric Jones
Xavier - Grant Hunt, Daniel Pape
Washington - Jon Rockwell, Trevor Luebe
Linn-Mar - Bryce Poellet, Keegan Cook
Marion - Cole Kuethe, Greg Sam

Runner of the Year - Josh Evans (Linn-Mar)

Coach of the Year - Will Harte and the Washington staff

Jacob Aune runs to 4th in state meet

FORT DODGE - Josh Evans ran the fastest race of his life Saturday and one of the fastest in state history.

Unfortunately for Evans, somebody else ran faster.

Ben Anderson of West Des Moines Valley broke the state meet record and captured the Class 4A cross country title in 15 minutes, 2 seconds at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.

Evans finished in second place in 15:10, the fifth-fastest time in state meet history.

"It was a fun race," said Evans, a 5-foot-7, 112-pound sophomore from Linn-Mar. "I PR'd (set a personal record) by a ton, so it was a great race.

"He was just stronger than I was. I tried to hold on to him, but I was out out of gas."

Anderson is just a junior, so they could meet again next year.

The old state record of 15:05 for 5 kilometers was shared by Stephen Dak of Marshalltown (2006), Grant Shadden of Marshalltown (1999) and Chris Francois of Davenport North (1997).

The original results Saturday listed Anderson at 14:53 and Evans at 15:01, but the IHSAA corrected those times and added roughly nine seconds to everyone's performance.

Evans defeated Anderson at the Heartland Classic in Ames last month, but he couldn't budge ahead Saturday. Both runners were clocked in 4:38 for the first mile.

"My first goal was to try and pass him after the two-mile mark, but after that I was just focused on trying to stay with him as much as I could," Evans said.

"It was just a surprise. I didn't think he'd be able to run away from me like that. But obviously he did."

Evans congratulated Anderson on his victory.

"That was my best," Evans said. "I was happy with it. I know I couldn't have done any faster. He was faster this day.

"The fact that I PR'd by about 20 seconds, that makes my day. It was a fun race, and it will be fun again next year."

Evans was proud of running the fifth-fastest time in state meet history. "That's pretty cool," he remarked.

Back in August, nobody was talking about Evans challenging for the state title as a sophomore. "I would have said they're crazy. I didn't see that coming."

Cedar Rapids Prairie senior Jacob Aune captured fourth place in the 4A race in 15:28, just nine days after having severe breathing problems and running with a broken toe at the district meet in Marshalltown. Aune was delighted with his performance.

"It's unbelieveable," he said. "I really can't describe it. It hasn't sunk in yet."

Aune had a cold when he ran in cold weather at the district meet, but he felt much better Saturday. "I felt good. It was definitely a lot more comfortable than it was last week," he said.

Cedar Rapids Washington led the Metro teams by taking fourth place in the team standings, but the Warriors missed their goal. "We wanted top-3," Coach Will Harte remarked.

Etienne Nzoyisaba finished in 11th place for Washington in 15:35 and Robert Hogg was 14th in 15:39.

"With two guys in the 15:30's, you think you might be in the top-3 or top-2 material, but not on a day like today," Harte said. "A great day to run and a fast field."

It was a calm, sunny day with temperatures in the mid-50s, ideal for the runners on a firm course.

Linn-Mar finished in sixth place in the 15-team field and Prairie was seventh.

Dowling Catholic won the team title with 70 points, followed by Cedar Falls (102) and Iowa City West (127). Six teams from the Mississippi Valley Conference finished in the top 10.

Ben Schueler of Xavier finished 20th in the Class 3A race in 16:27.

STATE MEET

Class 4A

Team results

1. WDM Dowling 70, 2. Cedar Falls 102, 3. Iowa City West 127, 4. CR Washington 154, 5. Pleasant Valley 163, 6. Linn-Mar 173, 7. CR Prairie 179, 8. WDM Valley 188, 9. Ames 202, 10. Iowa City High 203, 11. Waukee 210, 12. Indianola 257, 13. Burlington 306, 14. Dubuque Senior 351, 15. Ankeny 401

Top 10 Individuals

1. Ben Anderson (WDM Valley)         15:02
2. Josh Evans (Linn-Mar)                  15:10  
3. Cole Decker (WDM Dowling)         15:21
4. Jacob Aune (CR Prairie)                15:28
5. Brook Price (IC High)                   15:28
6. Jason Thomas (WDM Dowling)     15:28
7. Caleb Drake (Pleasant Valley)       15:30
8. Adam Streicher (Cedar Falls)        15:32
9. Isaac Jensen (IC West)               15:33
10. Jordan Schulze (Indianola)         15:33

CR Washington: 11. Etienne Nzoyisaba 15:35, 14. Robert Hogg 15:39, 30. Laurent Hakizimana 16:01, 41. Joe Berry 16:14, 58. Jon Rockwell 16:24, (68) Trevor Luebe 16:35, (91) Matt Wittman 17:09

Linn-Mar: 2. Josh Evans 15:10, 23. Chase Grabau 15:52, 33. Daniel Murphy 16:03, 52. Bryce Poellet 16:22, 63. Tanner Rathje 16:28, (67) Keegan Cook 16:34, (71) Matt Simon 16:37

CR Prairie: 4. Jacob Aune 15:28, 22. Mitch Pritts 15:49, 29. Isaiah Vlasek 16:00, 54. Zach Waite 16:23, 70. Christian Counts-Choplick 16:36, (83) Ross Adams 16:54, (92) Walker Thompson 17:13

Aune wins Valley Division cross country title

Prairie senior Jacob Aune was the winner Thursday in the Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division boys cross country meet at Prairie.

Aune ran the 5k course in 16 minutes, 22.4 seconds. He beat Calvin Daack from Dubuque Hempstead by 2.7 seconds.

Cedar Falls won the team title with 36 points. Iowa City West was second with 46 and Prairie was third with 72. Xavier was fifth and Jefferson sixth.

Prairie's Mitch Pritts finished eighth and the Hawks' Isaiah Vlasek was 14th.

Xavier's top finisher was Ben Schueler who was 18th in 17:31.

Jefferson's Taylor Mueller was 16th in 17:20.3.

MVC VALLEY DIVISION MEET
At Prairie

Teams
1. Cedar Falls 36, 2. Iowa City West 46, 3. Prairie 72, 4. Hempstead 84, 5. Xavier 146, 6. Jefferson 147, 7. Waterloo East 225.

Individuals
1. Jacob Aune (CRP)                   16:22.4
2. Calvin Daack (Hemp)                16:25.1
3. Adam Streicher (CF)                16:29.9
4. Isaac Jensen (ICW)                 16:31.2
5. Daniel Gardarsson (ICW)          16:32.5
6. Matthew Adrian (CF)              16:36.3
7. Jaime Zarate (CF)                   16:45.2
8. Mitch Pritts (CRP)                   16:59.5
9. Mitch Hammer (CF)                 17:00.2
10. Lincoln Rozeboom (ICW)       17:02.2

PRAIRIE
1. Jacob Aune                           16:22.4
8. Mitch Pritts                            16:59.5
14. Isaiah Vlasek                        17:09.5
24. Zach Waite                         17:46.3
25. Christian Counts-Choplick       17:49.0
28. Walker Thompson               18:14.3
39. Luke Galloway                     19:31.8

XAVIER
18. Ben Schueler                      17:31.0
30. Daniel Pape                        18:17.7
31. Grant Hunt                        18:21.0
33. Connor Marks                     18:45.3
34. Jacob Schmitt                    18:48.1
40. Evan Bednar                      19:58.3
41. Zach Stovie                       20:04.4

JEFFERSON
16. Taylor Mueller                    17:20.3
26. Eric Jones                         17:59.2
32. Devin Stone                      18:42.8
36. Ky Kramer                         18:58.1
37. Jason Chung                     19:10.8
38. Tyler Boesenberg              19:16.5
42. Maverick Guyer                  20:05.9