High School Cross Country: Key takeaways from Trent Smith Invitational

The meet consisted of 13 teams vying for the top spot: Charles City, Clarksville, Lake Mills, Mason City, Nashua-Plainfield, North Butler, Northwood Kensett, Riceville, Rockford, Saint Ansgar, South Winn, Turkey Valley and Waukon.

Mason City has strong showing in 9/10 girls' race

The Riverhawks had three runners place in the top ten in 9/10 girls' race.

That group traveled in a pack for most of the race and separated as the race came down the stretch. Leah Dykstra placed third with a time of 21 minutes, 37.82 seconds, Callen Fitzgerald finished sixth with a 22:2366 and Peyton Bobolz followed with a 23:13.19.

Addison Voelker from North Butler took home the victory in 20:47.73.

“It was very impressive,” Mason City head coach Tyler Ketelsen said. “The pack of girls that we had in that freshman/sophomore group with Callan Fitzgerald, Leah Dykstra and Peyton Bobolz. Those three did awesome together. They ran together, packed up well and pushed each other.”

Henry Hansen takes top spot for boys

Mason City’s Henry Hansen had a tremendous return from injury with a victory in his first race since last year.

After dealing with a possible muscle strain in his quad for about six weeks, Hansen returned to form with a dominant victory in the boys’ 9/10 race. He separated himself from the runner-up by over 46 seconds. Hansen finished in 17:43.78

“I’m just coming off an injury,” Henry Hansen said. “I just thought that I had to be good because I didn’t want Ezra [Almelien] to beat me. I raced against him in middle school. He got second in this race. I could see him the whole time, especially when we went around the curves. Even though he wasn’t that close to me, and I was by myself the whole time, he was still pushing me with my mental game.”

“We didn’t quite know what to expect from him in that race,” Ketelsen said. “He did what we know he’s capable of and that’s to run great. He ran a very competitive race. What I love about Henry is that, at the end of the day, no matter the circumstances, you’re going to get his best.”

Riverhawk juniors, seniors fast

For the girls’ 11/12 race, the Riverhawks showed their ability to stick together as a team.

Savannah Davis finished in third behind Nashua-Plainfield’s Kadence Huck and Riceville’s Claire Zweibohmer.

Mason City teammate, Brogan Evans was right behind her and placed fourth. Janae Hansen fought and secured a sixth-place finish. The Riverhawks proved themselves as one of the top up and coming teams in the state with the combined performances of the 9/10 and 11/12 races.

“Towards the beginning, I felt super strong,” Davis said. “I typically struggle during the second mile, but I was able to keep a more consistent pace today. For the third mile, I felt super strong more than I typically do. I probably had one of the best finishes in my entire cross country career.”

“I thought we all did super good as a team tonight,” Davis said. “For almost every race we had two or three people place in the top ten. I was really excited to see how the girls did tonight.”

Charles City’s Nick Williams takes gold

Charles City senior Nick Williams lead for the majority of the final race of the night, the boys’ 11-12 competition.

On his home course, Williams knew that he had to make a statement to all the teams competing. While he had some runners sneak up on him in the middle, he never let up. 

Williams won in 16:45.27.

“I’d say my performance was a solid eight out of ten,” Williams said. “I definitely went out the first mile really fast. I was just really excited to get back into the groove of racing. I think the first mile was about five flat. The second mile was really rough. I was struggling to keep it in gear there. I found my groove again around the end. I hear some guys coming up on my heals so I kept pushing and, in the end, I pulled it out.”

Lake Mills boys’ team is dangerous

The defending Class A champions had three of the top five finishers in the boys’ 11-12 race.

Kade Van Roekel took second place with a 16:54.12, finishing 8.85 seconds behind Williams. Knute Rogne (17:06.57) and Hayden Thompson (17:07.21) took fourth and fifth, respectively.

“It was our first race, so we had a lot of expectations,” Lake Mills head coach Beth Van Roekel said. “We had a lot of questions about how we were going to finish. We had a lot of goals, and our kids have worked really, really hard. Two runners PR’d and one was one second away from his PR.”