SOLON — A tie in cross country is uncommon. Not in 2022. Solon’s Lady Spartans pushed their way through to a third tie at their home Invitational Monday, September 19. When places of the first five varsity runners were tallied, Solon and Mt. Vernon-Lisbon were knotted up at 46 points. The better sixth place finish went to Mt. Vernon. The Mustangs were led by Class 3A’s top ranked Lourdes Mason, with an 18:44 five kilometer time.
Solon’s Kayla Young again paced the Lady Spartans in the runner-up spot at 19:29. Right behind her were teammates Mary Fiala (fifth, 20:52), Anna Quillin (ninth, 21:12), Gracie Federspiel (13th, 21:38), with Sydney Dee (17th, 21:50) in the 53 girl grid.
Tipton claimed third place with 68 points followed by Williamsburg, Xavier (Cedar Rapids), Benton, Davenport North, Central DeWitt, and Bettendorf.
A big part of that push to win from meet to meet comes from Solon’s JV, which is usually finishing first or second, while trading runners back and forth with the varsity.
“We see that we’re close to the JV and that just gives us motivation going forward throughout the season,” says Federspiel, often the #3 varsity runner. “It’s giving us confidence too, knowing that we are so close. I think we will see them a lot (through the rest of the season).” And as she spoke, her JV teammates were wrapping up with a close second to Tipton in an eight team race.
On the boys’ side, Brick Kabela and Michael Yeoman’s 3-4 finish (17:20, 17:24 respectively) helped push Solon to a third place team finish at 62 points. Mount Vernon-Lisbon (46) and Tipton (48) nearly had a tie themselves but settled it with their first five runners. Central DeWitt, Williamsburg, Benton, Davenport North and Xavier wrapped up the team scoring.
Grant Bumstead was 16th overall for the Spartans. Lawsin Sinwell’s 18:54 was good for 19th among the 56 varsity runners. Evan Burg (18:57) was 20th. In the JV 5K, Mason Pauley (19:49) and Camden Lyons Solon (19:52) were sixth and seventh out of the 87 runners on the course. Nathan Schadler (20:08), Wyatt Applegarth (20:18), and Hayden Henneberry (20:24) went 10, 12 and 13.