Cross counry teams travel to Humboldt invite

The Clarion-Goldfield-Dows/CAL cross country teams traveled to Sheldon Park last Monday, September 18 for a meet hosted by Humboldt. The Wildcats took the varsity girls title with 31 points, finishing easily ahead of Algona with 127 points. Following them in the top five of the 17-team field were Iowa Falls-Alden with 129, Emmetsburg with 135 and St. Edmond with 139. The Cowgirls were 16th.

“This is usually one of the hardest races of the season because it’s a trail run,” stated head coach Missy Springsteen-Haupt. “After running last week at Osage, Humboldt and ‘Big Bertha’ (the hill) don’t measure up on the difficulty scale. After two crazy weeks, it brought some normalcy back to our schedule and gave me a reliable baseline for our times heading into the rest of the season. Most of the times show improvement from Webster City, while some were still a little slower. Many runners have a more difficult time on a trail than on a golf course. They are especially difficult on runners with previous knee or ankle issues, since they are a more uneven, unstable running surface. There’s also something about trails that just makes some of us want to play it safe because they are a little more unpredictable.”

Angela Castro came home at 47th in 24:17.65 to pace the team. She was followed by: Katherine Lopez at 74th in 25:53.01; Raven Kinnetz at 84th in 26:19.66; Maya Jackson at 88th in 26:42.56; Kylie Klaver at 93rd in 27:06.00 and Kayleen Johnson at 105th in 28:31.78.

For the full story, see the September 28 edition of the Monitor.