Cross Country teams from the KCII listening area took centerstage Tuesday at the Mount Pleasant meet, bringing home plenty of hardware.

The Washington Demon boys were best on the course in the large school division with their score of 30 points, topping second place Mount Pleasant’s 57. Washington was dominant, taking the top two spots, placing three in the top five and four in the top ten. Micah Rees was the individual champion in 16:29, teammate Tyler Alderton completed the 1-2 punch as runner-up in 17:07. Other Washington finishers included Andrew Rees fifth, Lane Schrock eighth, Kael Malichky 14th, and Sawyer Tschantz 16th. After the race Micah and Andrew Rees and Alderton joined KCII sports to talk about the night. “Out here it’s a lot of mental. It’s hard to do three laps, especially in the prairie on this course. The mental part is the key. You have to think about form. Look strong. If you look strong you’ll be strong.”

The Washington girls were team runners-up with 49 points, just behind Fort Madison’s 44. Iris Dahl was overall runner-up in 20:09. Other Demon runners included Quincy Griffis ninth, Alyvia Anderson 11th, Angeline Anderson 13th, Amelia Dahl 14th, Lauren Horak 16th, Isabella Lujan 17th, Emma Horak 18th, Ada Kendall 26th, Kendall Hinrichsen 29th, Isobel Murphy 31st, Maya Bruty 45th, Cecilia Murphy 50th, and Jetzibe Sanchez 52nd.

The Mid-Prairie boys small school division team title came with a score of 50, just ahead of 56 from Mediapolis. Emmett Swartzentruber led the way as individual runner-up in 16:59. Other Golden Hawks included Preston Yutzy fourth, Max Swartzentruber 11th, Jesse Stultz 16th, Jacob Donaldson 17th, and Daniel Rodgers 23rd. The Golden Hawk girls were also small school team champions with a near perfect score of 16, blasting Danville’s 64 points. The Hawks had four of the top five performances and seven of the top 10. Danielle Hostetler was meet champion in 19:12. Other top Hawks included Brooklyn Stutzman runner-up, Phoebe Shetler fourth, Greta Sieren fifth, Kendal Landstrum eighth, Dessa Poll ninth, Annika Poll 10th, Abby Fleming 11th, Kali Miller 14th, Hannah Rodgers 22nd, Kyrie Poll 24th, Alaina Safly 38th, Behla Schmidt 42nd, Emma Lueck 43rd, Marissa Parks 51st, and Samantha Wunderlich 58th. Following the meet, Golden Hawks Yutzy and Stutzman talked about the night. Yutzy said, “It’s a smaller meet so you have to try to go out with the leaders and establish your place early on. It was a tougher race. It’s a bit hotter than what we have had with our last few meets being morning races. (The performance) was pretty good, considering the week of practice that we’ve had and coming off of a school day. (The team championship) feels great. It never gets old. It’s a joy to see it every time.”

Stutzman added, “My goal was to keep my pace in the second mile and be strong. It was good. I think I did pretty good. The boys and girls both got first and that’s really cool.”

The Columbus boys and girls both had matching fourth place team finishes in the small school division. For the Wildcat boys it was a team score of 105, Damian Vergara and Ian Estudillo both finished in 19:06 for 12th and 13th place respectively. Also competing were Cade Storm 19th, Bryan Tlatenchi 22nd, Ryan Villa 45th, Drake Marin 48th, and Ellis Hills-Carrier 50th. The Wildcat girls team score was 100, led by Ariana Vergara in 18th at 24:07, followed by Isabel Rendon 25th, Naveiah Garza 28th, Frannie Sosa 45th, Amelia Fulton 47th and Kimberly Gonzalez 54th.

The Winfield-Mt. Union boys were fifth in the small school team race with 119 points, led by Kohlby Newsom eighth in 18:21, followed by Gabe Hemsworth 15th, Ty Scorpil 26th, Bowen Thomson 31st, and Jacob Nelson 49th.

Top finishers for teams that did not post a team score included Lone Tree with Vivian Zaruba 12th and Brock Nebergal 32nd, WACO with Keiran Luitjens 27th and Justine Lynn 48th and Afton Wilkerson 33rd for Winfield-Mt. Union.