SW/TV girl harriers win Upper Iowa Conference meet, boys place third
Thu, 10/22/2015 - 2:43pm
admin
By:
Nate Troy
ELKADER - The South Winn-Turkey Valley varsity girls’ cross country team posted an impressive score of 33 points to win the Upper Iowa Conference Meet Thursday. Turkey Valley junior Shelby Reicks won the UIC title for the second straight year with a time of 19:34.70 seconds to lead the SW/TV varsity girls’ team.
The SW/TV varsity boys’ team placed third overall with 74 points behind Starmont (first, 36 points) and Central (second, 62). Derek Dietzenbach led SW/TV with a fourth place finish in 17:40.50.
Five of the SW/TV varsity girls finished in the top 15 to earn All-UIC honors. Reicks placed first, Josie Kriener was second in 19:37.90, Felicity Taylor took third in 19:47.10, Jenna Knutson was 12th in 21:05.20 and Rae Ann Klimesh was 15th in 21:12.10. Turkey Valley junior Sadie Nymeyer placed 16th in 21:24.35.
In the varsity boys’ race, Dietzenbach placed fourth to nab All-UIC honors and Turkey Valley sophomore Jordon Snyder grabbed All-UIC honors by placing 10th in 18:16.18. Paxten DeVilbiss was 17th in 18:47.20.
The SW/TV Junior Varsity girls’ team grabbed first place with 19 points. Four SW/TV runners finished in the top five to earn All-UIC honors including: Olivia Massman (first, 22:01), Tiana Bullerman (third, 24:09), Ashley Kriener (fourth, 24:11) and Melissa Ward (fifth 24:13).
SW/TV runner Jacob Michels finished first in the JV boys’ meet in a time of 19:51 to grab all-conference honors.
“The conference meet was the final meet of the season for our JV and Junior High kids,” SW/TV Coach Scott Conway said. “They closed out the year with some great efforts. Olivia Massman and Jacob Michels each captured the individual Junior Varsity titles with great races.
“On the girls side, we had nine of the top 15 finishers and won the JV team title handily. It was an excellent finish to their portion of the season and we are excited about the depth our team has.
“Our Junior High boys won the team title and the Junior High girls were runner up. All of the Junior High kids did a nice job this year. They competed hard and showed a great deal of improvement. They have bright futures ahead of them,” Conway said.
The coach was excited to see the varsity girls’ team capture the team title.
“Our varsity girls turned in one of their best efforts of the year to bring home the Conference Championship. Watching Shelby, Josie and Felicity lead the way with a 1-2-3 finish was certainly a highlight of the night. The three of them work together so well and I think it elevates what each of them can do.
“We are fortunate to have such an outstanding trio. It was also nice to see Shelby defend her individual title. She is a dedicated athlete and always brings her best effort.
“We knew we had an advantage with our top three over Elkader, but their strength has been their depth. They have exceptional 4-5 runners and have been better than us in that area this season.
“However, our 4 to 7 runners really stepped up and sealed the victory for us. For the first time all season, Elkader was unable to make up any points on us at the 4-5 position thanks to great performances by Jenna and Rae. Sadie and Sami were right behind as well and it was a true team effort.
“We were especially pleased to see Rae finish in the Top 15 for an all-conference medal. It had been a goal of hers and it is always fun to see a Senior accomplish something they have been shooting for,” Conway said.
The coach also gave kudos to the SW/TV boys.
“On the boys’ side, we placed about as well as we could have. Starmont ran a great race for the win, and we finished as close to Elkader as we have all year long. They are both good teams and will potentially be running at state in a couple weeks. Derek and Jordan led the way for us with all-conference efforts. Both are only sophomores, so it was a nice accomplishment for them.
“The rest of our guys ran good races as well. We are still fighting a little bit to get better early position in the groups of runners we need to be in. As a young team, we are just not quite strong enough yet to keep ourselves a bit further up in the pack.
“We are getting close to where we need to be and are excited to take another step forward at the district meet next week. We will be competing in perhaps the best 2A district in the state at Monticello and will see some great teams and individuals,” Conway said.
The SW/TV cross country teams will compete at the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet Oct. 22 at 4 p.m. at Monticello. The top 15 individuals and the top three teams at the meet will qualify for the State Meet Oct. 31 in Fort Dodge.
Varsity girls’ teams
1. SW/TV 33 points; 2. Central 47; 3. Starmont 93; 4. NFV 102; 5. MFL-MM 133; 6. Clayton Ridge 163; 7. Ed-Co 164.
SW/TV varsity girls
1. Shelby Reicks 19:34.70; 2. Josie Kriener 19:37.90; 3. Felicity Taylor 19:47.10; 12. Jenna Knutson 21:05.20; 15. Rae Ann Klimesh 21:12.10; 16. Sadie Nymeyer 21:24.35; 18. Sami Bohr 21:34.20.
Varsity boys’ teams
1. Starmont 56; 2. Central 62; 3. SW/TV 74; 4. Ed-Co 105; 5. Postville 130; 6. Clayton Ridge 150; 7. NFV 153; 8. MFL-MM 220; 9. Kee 249.
SW/TV varsity boys
4. Derek Dietzenbach 17:40.50; 10. Jordon Snyder 18:16.18; 17. Paxten DeVilbiss 18:47.20; 21. Eric Franzen 19:10.30; 22. Austin Tieskoetter 19:10.80; 23. Paul Hageman 19:22.80; 29. Juan Uribe 19:50.90.
