Ahern first at Crestwood Invite, Cadet girls' team takes second

CRESCO - Outlined against a cool, crisp and clear early autumn morning on Saturday, Oct. 5, the Crestwood cross country teams flexed their muscles with many stout performances at their home meet held at the Cresco Country Club.

The Crestwood cross country teams will compete at New Hampton on Oct. 10 and at the NEIC Meet at Luther College in Decorah on Oct. 15.

Crestwood senior Nathan Ahern grabbed first place in the Varsity Boys’ race in a strong time of 18:01.6 seconds while Laney Peter posted a third place finish in the Varsity Girls’ race with a solid time of 21:51.1.

In the Junior High Girls’ race, Cadet Jaclyn Cummings took second in 15:31.6. In the boys’ race, Seth Drtina was sixth in 13:18.3. The Cadet Junior High Girls’ team took first overall with 28 points.

The Crestwood Varsity Girls’ team took second overall with 52 points. Sumner-Fredericksburg was first in the girls’ race with 35 points.

Sumner-Fredericksburg also won the Varsity Boys’ race with 40 points. South Winn was second at 47, New Hampton took third at 67 and Crestwood was fourth with 68 points.

“Nathan Ahern had an outstanding performance for the day,” Cadet Head Coach Karen Steffen said. “He went out and took a solid lead right from the start and finished more than a minute and a half ahead of the rest of the field.

“Laney Peter was our top finisher for our girls once again. She is running well and has her goals set pretty high for the last part of the season.

“Our home cross country meet features one of the most challenging courses that we run all season. We don’t run anywhere else that has the number of steep and long hills that we face on the Cresco course. Runners usually don’t have PR’s (personal records) on our course.

“We didn't have any personal bests, but eight of our athletes improved their times from last year on this course," Steffen said.