ANAMOSA — The north end of the Anamosa Middle School campus features prairie grass, tall weeds, and a nearby farm with cows peacefully grazing on corn stubble. Then comes another herd, this one consisting of cross country runners either settling into a pack or pushing to gain a position or more.
Saturday, Sept. 27 the herds included the Solon High School runners as junior varsity and varsity combined in the Anamosa Invitational, the second trip up Hwy. 1 for the Spartans and Lady Spartans this season.
Falyn Svalstad led the Lady Spartans to a runner up team finish behind champion Fort Madison with her third place finish in 19:42.9. Mailee Schmidt scored a top-ten finish in eighth place in 20:30.5 while Liv Nelson got a top-20 finish in 17th place in 21:58.9.
The Spartans brought home a sixth place finish behind champion Denver (62), runner up Fort Madison (67), Oelwein (73), Monticello (90), and Tipton (102) with 145 team points. Anders Holmes led with a seventh place finish in 17:23.1. Rene Meza got a top-20 finish with his 14th place showing in 17:54.0.
