The Mount Vernon-Lisbon girls cross country team won the WaMaC Invitational for the third straight season, while senior Grady Olberding won his second straight title on the boys’ side Thursday, Oct. 17, at Antioch Christian Church in Marion.
MVL girls scored 53 team points to outpace Solon (76), Marion (93) and Clear Creek Amana (109).
Evelyn Moeller and Kiersten Swart finished second and third, respectively, to lead the Mustang attack.
“We knew it was going to be a battle with Solon,” MVL coach Kory Swart said. “The girls really ran so well. I’m super proud of them.”
Moeller finished in 19:14.7, about 20 seconds behind medalist Grace Estling of Center Point-Urbana. Moeller tried to push past her on a windy, chilly night, but didn’t quite have enough in the tank.
“She’s really good,” Moeller said of Estling. “With the wind and the hills … You’re not supposed to settle, but I guess I settled.”
That’s about the only time she’s came up short in the second half of the season. Since shattering her personal best by a minute at Williamsburg on Oct. 1, Moeller has been running near the front of every race.
“That race was crazy, it was like an out-of-body experience,” Moeller said. “I just kept going and my legs never hurt. I was in the front, and thought, well, I’ve never done this before.
“That gave me a lot of confidence. Once you do it once, you trust that you can.”
Moeller and Swart were followed by Edith Dawson (13th), Rose Pisarik (17th) and Cora Smith (18th). The entire second pack was fairly tight, with Miranda Sellner (21st) and Sam Schoff (25th) close behind.
“Edith ran a PR in less-than-ideal conditions,” Swart said. “Those girls really helped us secure the conference championship.
“Winning the WaMaC is always going to be a battle.”
It was a battle the MVL boys fell a little short in. Grinnell won the boys title with 50 team points. CCA was second with 56 and MVL was third with 61 points. The Mustangs were missing their No. 3 runner, Seamus O’Connor, who was out sick.
“That didn’t help,” Swart said. “But Grinnell and CCA were very formidable. Even with him, it would have been interesting. They would have been hard to get.”
Olberding finished in 15 minutes, 47.9 seconds to claim medalist honors. He finished about 13 seconds ahead of Alex Torres of Vinton-Shellsburg.
“I’m starting to really enjoy racing and I’m having fun with it,” Olberding said. “I take risks, but I’m smart about it, smart about how I race best.”
Olberding was happy to win the individual title, but was hoping the entire team could celebrate.
“It kind of wasn’t the best feeling knowing we didn’t win as a team,” Olberding said. “I’m more team-based. Celebrating with my team is more important.”
Dawson Scheil was close on Olberding’s heels, as usual, f inishing third. The pack did perform well, with sophomore Anthony Armstrong (18th), freshman Danny Dye (20th) and senior Wesley Sadler (22nd) rounding out the team score.
“It was a huge race for Danny to come in and run varsity,” Swart said. “And for him to earn second-team all-conference says a lot about Danny Dye.”
The Mustangs next run in the State qualifying meet Wednesday, Oct. 23, in Waverly. MVL will head north instead of 10 miles to the south in Solon, where the closest 3A SQM is.
“We’re excited to travel,” Swart said. “We’ve ran there this year, so we know the course. We’ve got to go do our job, and if we do, we’ll qualify for state.”