Ram harriers complete busy stretch, host HOIAC meet

By TYLER ANDERSON tanderson@iowainformation.com

Leading up to the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet, the Greene County High School cross country team has been putting in a lot of time on the trails. It’s been paying dividends, even if the Rams are working to return to full strength.

After all, the red and black harriers want to send as many people as they can to Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge at the last weekend of October.

The Rams got busy as of late, competing at the newly renamed Brian Knapp Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 3 at the Lake City Country Club, running at the Saydel Cross Country Invitational last Thursday and finishing their stretch with the Heart of Iowa Activities Conference Cross Country Meet, which took place this past Monday on the grounds of Greene County Middle School and Linduska Field.

The GCHS boys were solid in all three outings, taking third in Lake City, placing sixth in Saydel and landed fifth at the conference meet. 

Each time, the Ram boys were spearheaded by the efforts of junior Noah Hinote. Sophomore Becca Anderson led the Greene County girls, finishing in the top 23 in two of the last three meets.

The following are recaps from each meet.

Brian Knapp Cross Country Invitational

At the newly renamed Brian Knapp Cross Country Invitational, hosted by South Central Calhoun on Oct. 3 at the Lake City Country Club, the Rams had some strong performances – which lifted the Greene County boys’ team to third in the team standings with 109 points. East Sac County won the meet with 36 points, followed by Sioux Central (60). Southeast Valley took fourth with 121 points, edging out Denison-Schleswig’s 121 points.

Ridge View won the girls’ meet with 56 points, and Alta-Aurelia’s Nora Peterson won the individual race.

According to Jeff Lamoureux, GCHS cross country coach, the Rams overcame a challenging route despite not being completely healthy.  

“I was really proud of the effort at Lake City,” Lamoureux said. “It is a difficult course. The early part is fairly flat, but has some serious hills in the last mile and a half. We still aren’t 100 percent healthy, but at least we had all our varsity runners in the meet with the return of (sophomore) Carter Hinote.”

Noah Hinote was stellar in the land of the Titans, placing sixth overall with a time of 18:14.90. Junior Gavyn Winters (20th, 19:04.94), freshman Brady Carstensen (23rd, 19:25.40) and senior Kolby Angell (29th, 19:59.98) took spots in the top 30, followed by Carter Hinote (35th, 20:20.40), freshman Eli Carstensen (22:02.24) and teammate Blaise Schilling (64th, 23:18.93).

Anderson (25th, 13:55.56) and sophomore Ava Minnehan (28th, 24:16.66) finished within the top 30, followed by freshman Evelyn Snyder (38th, 25:39.94).

Saydel Cross Country Invitational

Two days later, the Rams went back to work by competing at the Saydel Cross Country Invitational, held last Thursday on the ground of Saydel High School in Des Moines.

The Rams landed just outside of the top five, taking sixth in the boys’ team standings with 148 points. 

Des Moines Christian won the meet with 23 points, followed by Ankeny Christian (68), Grand View Christian (119), Interstate 35 (124) and Van Meter (127). Des Moines Christian also won the girls’ side of the meet with 34 points, edging out Van Meter by two points, while Van Meter’s Emma McCoy won the individual race.

According to Lamoureux, there were good takeaways from the highly competitive meet.

“It was another nice effort from our team,” he said. “We had a few PRs. Conditions were good with a light breeze and mild temperatures. However, having just run a meet (two days before) hurt us a bit. We seemed a little tired and hadn’t recovered fully.”  

Noah Hinote continued to cut down on his time despite a 14th place showing, finishing with a time of 18:11.80. Winters (32nd, 18:44.40), Brady Carstensen (38th, 19:13.10), Angell (46th, 19:48.50) and Carter Hinote (49th, 19:48.50) all finished within the top 50. 

Eli Carstensen (73rd, 21:25.00), Koller (75th, 21:28.40), Maddox Carstensen (105th, 23:40.00) and Ritter (116th, 27:07.00) also represented the Rams.

Anderson took home 31st overall with a time of 23:41.80, and Snyder was 53rd with a time of 25:52.90.

Heart of Iowa Activities Conference Cross Country Meet

The home elements were gracious to the Rams in their final meet of the regular season, as the red and black welcomed its fellow HOIAC schools for the conference championship meet, held this past Monday on the grounds of Greene County Middle School and Linduska Field.

Noah Hinote turned in a fantastic performance, churning out a fourth place finish and a season best time of 17:46.29. According to Lamoureux, Noah was just 13 seconds shy of breaking the school record – also currently held by Noah. Overall, the GCHS boys took fifth in the team standings with 125 points.

“It was a great evening for a race,” said Lamoureux. “Conditions were near perfect, and with a flat course, I figured times would be good. Our runners really stepped up with several PRs. Injuries have been a problem all year, and today was no different, with two of our top seven not able to run.”

Nevada won the HOIAC boys’ title with 28 points, followed by West Marshall (75), Roland-Story (95), Perry (113) and the Rams.

Winters took 25th overall with a time of 19:05.00, followed by Brady Carstensen (26th, 19:08.63), Angell (34th, 19:49.90) – who all finished within the top 40. Eli Carstensen (57th, 21:36.47), Koller (68th, 22:13.06), Maddox Carstensen (84th, 23:23.09) and Ritter (97th, 25:42.99) all raced for the red and black.

The Greene County girls saw four harriers at the conference meet, led by Anderson (23rd, 22:53.09) and Minnehan (26th, 23:49.82). Snyder took 34th overall with a time of 24:37.34, while sophomore Leah McCormick raced to a 61st place finish with a time of 29:48.15.