The Washington Demons continue to set a gold standard on the cross-country race trail, as both teams won titles at the Timm Lamb Invitational Thursday in Fort Madison. The Washington boys had their second-lowest team score of the season with 28 points and finished 35 points clear of second-place Fort Madison, while the Demon girls had a score of 39 points to edge out the Bloodhounds by four.
The Washington boys absolutely dominated once again, led by another victory for senior Micah Rees. Along with his third race won this season, Rees bettered his school-record time of 15 minutes 49 seconds by one second less.
Junior teammate Tyler Alderton was one minute six seconds behind Rees in second place, while senior Lane Schrock was fifth in 17:18 and sophomore Andrew Rees crossed the finish line one spot and six seconds later. Senior Kael Malichky finishing 14th and sophomore Sawyer Tschantz coming in 20th rounded out a bevy of top times for the Demons in the boys’ A flight.
Washington nearly had the individual girls’ A winner as well, as sophomore Iris Dahl was the runner-up with a season-best time of 20 minutes 1 second. Lauren Horak was sixth by finishing in 21:12, while fellow junior Quincy Griffis was eighth by crossing the finish line eight seconds later.
Senior Abigail Kleese, junior Alyvia Anderson, sophomore Angeline Anderson and freshman Emma Horak made places 11 through 14 overall, and Demon junior Isabella Lujan was not far behind that pack in 17th.
The Columbus Wildcats had another strong showing in Fort Madison as well, finishing second in the girls’ team scoring and tied for second on the boys’ side of the B flight. Freshman Iris Garza continued her phenomenal debut season by taking third in nearly 21 minutes 40 seconds, while junior Ariana Vergara was seventh for Columbus in 23:19. Sophomores Isabel Rendon and Naveiah Garza also had top-18 times for the Wildcats.
On the boys’ side, Columbus was led by Damian Vergara, who just cracked the top 10 with a time of 18 minutes eight seconds. Fellow senior Ian Estudillo had one of the other top-20 time for the Wildcats by finishing 16th, while freshman Cade Storm was 20th.
The best time among area teams in the B flight belonged to Winfield-Mount Union junior Kohlby Newsom, who finished third in 17 minutes five seconds. Despite the Wolves finishing fourth in team scoring, Gabriel Hemsworth had a good day for WMU by finishing 14th, as did fellow senior Ty Scorpil, who finished 17th.
The Sigourney Savages also got a couple of strong performances when they competed Thursday at Lynnville-Sully. Sophomore Troy Klett was 11th in the boys’ race, as was classmate Addison Yates on the girls’ side. While Sigourney will next run at Eddyville Tuesday, Washington will be joined by Columbus and Winfield-Mount Union at the Mount Pleasant meet that afternoon.