The Adrian/Ellsworth Dragons Cross Country team traveled to Butterfield on Saturday, Sept. 12 for an afternoon meet. Because of the state COVID guidelines, only three teams are allowed to run in a meet. However, for this meet, it was planned to run three teams in the morning, two teams in the afternoon. In doing this, we could add scores together to score the meet as if all five teams were running at once.
The girl’s 5,000 meter run was the first event on the course. The Dragons were matched up against one of the best teams in Class A this fall – MCC/F’s team. The Dragons were led once again by Hiltyn Heitkamp who cleared the course in 24:06, a 30 second improvement from two weeks prior, and placed 20th out of 55 girls overall. Taya Elias was second for the Dragons, running a personal best time of 24:56 to place 26th. Hunter Penning was 25:26 in 31st place and senior Gracia Elias was 36th place in 26:18. Newcomer Isabel Thier had the biggest two week improvement for the Lady Dragons as she took off 6 minutes and 20 seconds from her first meet. Thier ran 28:54. The Dragons placed 4th of 5 teams at the meet.
The varsity boy’s were the next to take the scenic course. Once again, Linkin Bossert led the way for the Dragons as he placed 15th of 54 boys and ran 20:10 on the course. Dylan Graff worked off Bossert, improving over 3 minutes from two weeks ago, and ran 20:16 to place 16th overall. Micah Onken was the third Dragon to cross the line in 21:14 to place 25th. Logan Bossert was the fourth Dragon in 23:12 an improvement of over 5 minutes from his first meet. Zach Onken also had a major improvement of over 5 minutes, running 23:20. Cole Boltjes had a solid meet, improving 3 minutes and moved through the 5,000 meters in 23:21. The biggest improvement on the day belonged to freshman Bruce Farinella as he had a monster improvement of 12 minutes and 48 seconds from the first meet. Farinella completed the course this time in 24:32. The boy’s placed 5th overall.
The junior high girl’s 2,700 meter run was a tremendously bright spot for the Dragons on a cloudy and rainy afternoon. The Dragons all got out to a great start and Lucy Thier captured 1st place in her second meet, running 12 minutes and 11 second. Closely behind Thier was Olivia Bullerman, who placed 2nd overall in the 35 runner field, running in 12:16. Mikaiah VanDyke had a good performance, placing 12th overall and running 13:49. Jozie Cuperus and Kaysie Lenz worked together on the course and finished in 15:18 and 15:23 respectively for a pair of good races. Kaitlyn Taylor worked hard throughout the run and ran a time of 17:18. Brooklyn Oddson was able to push through and complete the run in 17:33. The girl’s placed 3rd as a team.
The junior high boy’s were the final race of the day. Seventh grader Garrett Penning led the way with a 12:17 time and placing 16th out of 36 boys. Nate Onken was not far behind as he ran 13:11. Jack Rahe had an exceptional run as he ran 14:46, a 50 second improvement from the first meet although today’s race was 600 meters farther. Cael Hendel had a similar experience as he ran 15:10 and improved 30 seconds. Lane Hoffman was the 5th Dragon across the line in 19:04. The Dragons placed 3rd overall.
