The collaborative cross country team of Mount Vernon-Lisbon took part in the Iowa City West Invitational Tuesday of last week, placing respectably before participating in that Saturday’s meet at Wartburg College.
Tuesday, Sept. 28The Mustangs placed second (girls), and third (boys) at the Iowa City West Invitational in warm weather, and head coach Kory Swart saw a few things he’d like to change before the team’s next outing.
“We’ve got a few things to work on for both the boys and the girls teams,” said Swart.
“We really need to close the gap from four to five for the girls, and our pack needs to keep moving up for the boys. If we can do those things, it will really help in the rankings, and for district assignments that come out in a couple weeks,” he said.
Tuesday didn’t feature any personal records, said Swart, “as the course measures a little long and it was a warm day with 86-degree weather.”
The coach looked on the bright side.
“With cooler temperatures ahead, I think we’re ready to have some breakout performances,” Swart said.
Saturday, Oct. 2
The team traveled to Wartburg College Saturday, with the girls placing 13th out of 23 and the boys placing 16th of 25 teams against what Swart said was “stellar competition.”
“It should really help prepare us for the postseason,” Swart added.
Swart pointed out Anna Hoffman’s breaking 20 minutes for the first time in her career as one of the day’s highlights, as well as Emrie Johnson and Abbie Moss setting personal records by almost a minute.
“Sierra Snyder came up big as our fifth runner to really help out our team score with a personal record of over a minute,” said Swart.
For the boys, Swart was impressed by the squad’s “incredibly small spread of 17 seconds from their top five runners of Junior Krob, Luke Stephens, Carson Sansenbach, Quincy Happel, and Eli Dickson.”
“Grady Olberding also broke 18 minutes, which is a really nice accomplishment for a freshman,” Swart said.
“Cooler temperatures and a fast course made it a really great day for Mount Vernon-Lisbon cross country. Now, we want to keep this momentum going as we finish out our season,” said Swart.
MVL teams second, third at IC West invite
Trent Bowman
October 7, 2021