WILLIAMSBURG — An unexpected hinderance awaited the Solon girls’ cross country team at the Williamsburg Invitational last Tuesday. With insufficient parking at the Williamsburg Sports Complex, one fan decided to park on the course. The varsity girls race was delayed by five minutes as meet officials tracked down the owners of the vehicle to get it moved. Senior Lady Spartan, Sydney Dee used the delay to her advantage.
After an extra two run outs. Dee used the time to visualize the course and how fast she wanted to start the race.
“I was visualizing certain parts of the race that I knew from years past were going to be difficult,” said Dee.
Dee’s strategy worked. The senior got out to one of her best starts of the season and stuck with the top runner for most of the race.
“I’ve just heard everybody tell me if I start faster, I can run faster,” said Dee, “I’ve been working on that and now I’ve learned who the girls are I need to be next to and to stick with them.” Dee finished the race in 19:05, good enough for second place.
The 23-second personal record for Dee helped power the Lady Spartans to their second-place finish, only four points behind Mount Vernon-Lisbon.
“Flip-flopping now with Mount Vernon, we beat them at home, now they beat us here,” said Solon head coach Emy Williams, “That just makes it a friendly rivalry and is good for us to keep competing.”
Livya Nelson and Kinley Mai finished in second and third for the Lady Spartans. The freshman placed seventh and 13th overall. Sophomore Falyn Svalstad was the fourth runner in for Solon as she placed 22nd. Then to round out the scorers, freshman Addison Seamans placed 27th.
The boys’ team struggled place-wise against very strong competition, but they continued to improve their times. Anders Holmes led the team once again, this time finishing in 17:17, a personal record. The freshman was the top placing underclassmen as he finished in 18th.
Holmes battled all the way to inside the top 20 after passing the mile mark in 30th. Camden Lyons and Rene Meza rounded out the Spartans top three runners. The juniors finished within a second of each with Lyons running 18:08 and Meza at 18:09. Lyons placed 55th and Meza placed 57th.
It was two more freshmen who rounded out the five scorers for the Spartans. Deacon Waddell and Preston Raasch crossed the line at nearly the same time as they ran 18:38.6 and 18:38.9. They placed 72nd and 73rd.
The girls’ JV team placed second led by seniors Rose McAtee and Aly Stahle who placed second and fourth. The boys’ JV team placed eighth. Junior Charlie Petit led the team with a time of 19:16 and placed 26th. Both middle school teams won their 1.5-mile races. Mailee Schmidt placed second for the girls as she ran a 9:03. Macklin Svalstad won the race for the boys with a time of 7:42.
Upcoming Events
Saturday, October 12 – North Linn invitational (Troy Mills). 8:10 a.m.
Thursday, October 17 – WaMaC Conference Meet, Antioch Christian Church (Marion). 4:00 p.m.
Wednesday, October 23 – 3A State Qualifying Meet, Solon Recreation & Nature Area.
Friday, Nov. 1 – State Meet, Lakeside Municipal Golf Course,