SOLON — You could have almost called it a dual meet. Solon hosted its annual cross country invitational Monday, September 18. The 1-2 finish? Mt. Vernon-Solon, in girls varsity, junior varsity, as well as the boys’ varsity and junior varsity races.
Two team race for girls meet title
Mt. Vernon/Lisbon brought home the individual third, fifth and seventh places, then19th and 20th. Solon placed its five scorers in between to stay close on the girls’ side. Still, the readout tilted 54-69 toward Mount Vernon. From there the team finish read: Tipton (90), Marion (110), Clinton (131), North Linn (135), Williamsburg (156), and Xavier (182).
Meghan Wheatley, from North Linn (top ranked again this week in Class 1A), crossed first in 18:23; 33 seconds ahead of runner-up Camryn Sattler of Clinton over the five kilometers. For the Lady Spartans, Sydney Dee was first over the electronic finish line mat and tenth overall in 20:43. Backing her were teammates Anna Quillin (12th, 20:52), Ava Rolwes (14th, 21:08), Falyn Svalstad (16th, 21:17), and Ella Sheeley (17th 21:18) to lock in second for Solon in the 55-girl field.
Federspiel was just one slot back at 18th and the sixth varsity runner for this meet. “I’m never exactly where I want to be. I have pretty high expectations for myself,” acknowledges Federspiel. “I’m definitely trying to trust the process and get better every day; every meet; just trust that even if it’s not my best race. I’m not going to lower my expectations or doubt myself. I’ll keep believing in me and strive for our team to get better.”
As cross country hits midseason, Coach Emy Williams likes what she sees. “Boys and girls today had some pretty great PRs. Every single runner was under 30 (minutes), so that’s a huge thing for us,” says Williams. “We know we are not yet where we need to be…where we want to be. Seeing some different teams, like we did today, shows us what we have to do to get to where we want to go. I was really proud of the kids today and how they ran!”
Boys are runners-up, too
The Solon meet featured five girls and six boys listed in the state Class (3A, 2A or 1A) top-20 rankings. One is Solon senior Brick Kabela. Listed as ninth in Boys Class 3A, he crossed third among the 65 varsity boys running at Solon. That paid off as the Spartans stayed close (43-61) to Mount Vernon-Lisbon. Behind the Highway 1 rivals in a ten-school race came: Tipton 102, Williamsburg 107, Davenport North 117, Marion 135, Xavier 193, Clinton 205, North Linn 211 and West Liberty 296.
“I like our home course. I think I ran pretty well. (I) Ran a season best (17:31, good for eighth place,” reviewed Lawsin Sinnwell. “I like our home course. It’s a flat course.” Ahead, there is the Steve Johnson Invitational at Waverly. His goal? “Cut more time. That’s all I really want to do. I like the course there a lot. It seems like there’s a lot of downhill, it’s a lot steadier.”
Just ahead of Waverly, is a return trip Saturday to Anamosa.
Anna Quillin finished 12th in 20:52 in Monday’s home cross country meet.