The Knoxville Cross Country Squads hosted the Panther Invitational on a rather warm late September afternoon at Pine Knolls Country Club in Knoxville. Winterset narrowly won the girls team title by just five points over Newton. Pella Christian led the area teams with a 5th place team finish led by Joslyn Terpstra as the overall individual winner in a time of 21:19 followed by teammate Jaclyn Holmes in a time of 21:40. Knoxville finished 7th overall led by Olivia Maasdam in 23rd place with a time of 26:11. On the boys side, Knoxville placed 10th led by Seth Walraven’s 14th place finish in a time of 18:58. Knoxville’s Faith Rozeboom and Joey Hembrook told KNIA/KRLS Sports the course was challenging but they felt they made good progress on their overall seasons.
Rozeboom: “It wasn’t my best race, I’ve had some good times this year, this course wasn’t the easiest but I was proud of myself for making it to the finish and pushing through.”
Hembrook: “It was a pretty good race and it was a tough course. I didn’t run the time I wanted to, but I hope our team can bounce back and have a good rest of the season.”
The Indianola boys placed 6th overall led by Hunter Seifrig in 12th in a time of 18:51. Indianola head coach Kevin Barnes said he wants to see the depth of his team continue to develop, and be a more well rounded squad…
Barnes “We’d like to see oru gap between numbers 1/2 and 7 tighten up still, and that’s going to be something we are working on until the last meet. And of course if every kid continues to progress, whether they are varsity, junior varsity, or whatever, if they continue to progress and get personal bests, that’s success for us.”
The Pella Christian Boys were 8th overall led by Ryan Natelborg in 22nd with a time of 19:17. Teammate Brant VanderHart, who finished 33rd, told KNIA/KRLS Sports that while the conditions were tough, it was good to see his teammates run in a pack…
VanderHart: “I think we ran really good as a pack and were close together as a pack the first mile. This course is a lot of up and down but we pushed through it.”
Twin Cedars did not have enough of a team to score, but Rylee Dunkin was 1st over the line for the Sabers and 2nd overall in a time of 21:30, while boys runner Andrew Freel was 80th with a time of 24:37. Freel, along with Dunkin and Cheyenne Bruns all say Pine Knolls is one of the most challenging courses they run on.
Dunkin: “It went pretty good and it was a hot one, and it was hilly but you have to use the hills to your advantage and stick with it.”
Bruns: “It was difficult, and this is one of the courses I don’t like but I run it and I might fall at the finish line but I finish.”
Freel: “I just stay positive and try to stick with the goal and just pace.”
Full results: Panther-Invitational-Girls