Linn-Mar Boys Cross Country

Lions near the top in cross country rankings

West Des Moines Dowling has the top cross country program in the state, but the Linn-Mar Lions aren't far behind.

The Linn-Mar girls cross country team is ranked No.3 in the state this week and the Linn-Mar boys are ranked No.4, according to the Iowa Association of Track Coaches.

Dowling Catholic is No.1 in the Class 4A boys poll and the Class 4A girls poll, a rare double in any sport. Pleasant Valley is ranked No.3 in the boys poll and No.4 in the girls poll.

The Metro area has three boys teams in the top-10 with Linn-Mar fourth, Washington sixth and Prairie eighth. Kennedy is ranked 10th in the girls poll.

Xavier is ranked 12th in the boys poll in Class 3A.

Class 4A Boys

1. Dowling, 2. Cedar Falls, 3. Pleasant Valley, 4. Linn-Mar, 5. Ames, 6. Washington, 7. Iowa City West, 8. Prairie, 9. Waukee, 10. West Des Moines Valley, 11. Dubuque Senior, 12. Indianola, 13. Iowa City High, 14. Bettendorf, 15. Marshalltown.

Class 4A Girls

1. Dowling, 2. Iowa City High, 3. Linn-Mar, 4. Pleasant Valley, 5. Bettendorf, 6. West Des Moines Valley, 7. Waukee, 8. Roosevelt, 9. Iowa City West, 10. Kennedy, 11. Ankeny, 12. Cedar Falls, 13. Johnston, 14. Ames, 15. Dubuque Senior.

Class 3A Boys

1. Pella, 2. Boone, 3. Wahlert, 4. Decorah, 5. Glenwood, 6. Mount Vernon/Lisbon, 7. Heelan, 8. Grinnell, 9. Webster City, 10. MOC/Floyd Valley, 11. Ballard, 12. Xavier, 13. Western Dubuque, 14. Charles City, 15. Solon.

Class 3A Girls

1. Assumption, 2. Solon, 3. Decorah, 4. Dallas Center Grimes, 5. Wahlert, 6. Williamsburg, 7. Pella, 8. Heelan, 9. GH/V/H, 10. MOC/Floyd Valley, 11. Benton, 12. Mount Vernon/Lisbon, 13. Humboldt, 14. Shenadoah Essex, 15. LeMars.

Josh Evans enjoys view from the top

Linn-Mar sophomore Josh Evans is not merely the top cross country runner in the Mississippi Valley Conference anymore.

He's now one of the best runners in the state and has been ranked No. 1 by the Iowa Track Coaches Association the past two weeks.

Evans showed why Tuesday when he won the Linn-Mar Invitational at the Tuma Soccer Complex by 29 seconds.

Evans vaulted to the No. 1 spot in the state rankings after a strong second-place showing Sept. 17 at the Heartland Classic in Ames, where he beat runners who had been ranked 1-2 in Iowa.

Evans climbed from No. 3 to No. 1 in last week's rankings based on that strong performance in Ames and stayed No. 1 in this week's poll. He's just a sophomore and still only 15 years old, yet he's already considered the top distance runner in Iowa.

"It's pretty cool to see that," he said Tuesday after winning the Linn-Mar Invitational in 15 minutes, 34 seconds over the flat 5-kilometer course. "It will be fun the next couple of years."

Cole Decker of Dowling Catholic had been ranked No. 1 in the state, but Evans beat him by 16 seconds at the Heartland Classic.

"I was pretty amazed," Evans said. "I'm figuring he probably had some kind of an off-day. I did not see that coming. I figured he'd be right with me.

"I was really nervous," he said. "I was thinking he was going to run away with it. I kept waiting for him to make a move. He's going to be right with me at state, I know that much."

The state meet is scheduled for Oct. 29 in Fort Dodge.

Ben Anderson of West Des Moines Valley was ranked No. 2 in the state prior to the Heartland Classic, but Evans beat him by eight seconds. Anderson stayed No. 2 in the rankings and Decker fell to No. 3.

Evans finished second in the Heartland Classic, finishing behind a runner from Minnesota. It became a battle for second place among Evans, Decker, Anderson and a few others.

"It was a lot of fun," Evans said. "It was a great course. We had a good battle going between me and Cole and Ben Anderson for 2 1/2 miles.

"I just pulled away around one turn and the guy from Minnesota caught me, but it was really a lot of fun. It was a great course to run on."

Evans has won all of his races this fall against Iowans, mostly by wide margins.

"At the start of the season I didn't see this coming," he said. "But now I'm just thinking I need to be with the front group and I just go from there."

He's looking forward to competing for a state title next month and possibly winning the race.

"I hope so," he said. "I'm definitely looking to contend for that, for sure."

There were only five schools in the Linn-Mar Invitational Tuesday, and all the guests ended up chasing Linn-Mar.

The Lions won the boys title with 37 points, trimming Prairie (45) and Washington (52). Jacob Aune of Prairie finished second and Robert Hogg of Washington was third.

Carolyn Newhouse led the Linn-Mar girls to their title by winning her 4-kilometer race in 14 minutes, 56 seconds. She beat teammate Rachel Perry by 22 seconds. The Lions finished 1-2-3-4-6 to run away with the team title.

LINN-MAR INVITATIONAL
Tuma Soccer Complex

Boys Team Standings

1. Linn-Mar 37, 2. Prairie 45, 3. Washington 52, 4. Marion 92, 5. Xavier 141.

Girls Team Standings

1. Linn-Mar 16, Prairie 58, 3. Washington 66, 4. Xavier 95, 5. Marion 142.

Boys Top 10
5K

1. Josh Evans (LM) 15:34, 2. Jacob Aune (CRP) 16:03, 3. Robert Hogg (CRW) 16:08, 4. Mitch Pritts (CRP) 16:08, 5. Chase Grabau (LM) 16:23, 6. Lukas Mees (MAR) 16:28, 7. Laurent Hakizimana (CRW) 16:34, 8. Daniel Murphy (LM) 16:37, 9. Zach Waite (CRP) 16:39, 10. Bryce Poellet (LM) 16:42.

Girls Top 10
4K

1. Carolyn Newhouse (LM) 14:56, 2. Rachel Perry (LM) 15:18, 3. Morgan Uridil (LM) 15:18, 4. Brooklynn Kascel (LM) 15:20, 5. Shannon Gorman (CRW) 15:24, 6. Maddie Saville (LM) 15:33, 7. Bree Gaster (CRP) 15:50, 8. Caitlin Novak (LM) 16:13, 9. Beth Heims (CRP) 16:21, 10. Anastasia Jordan (CRP) 16:26.

Boys Teams

Linn-Mar: 1. Josh Evans 15:34, 5. Chase Grabau 16:23, 8. Daniel Murphy 16:37, 10. Bryce Poellet 16:42, 13. Kyle Read 17:05, 14. Tanner Rathje 17:06.

Prairie: 2. Jacob Aune 16:03, 4. Mitch Pritts 16:08, 9. Zach Waite 16:39, 12. Isaiah Vlasek 17:03, 18. Christian Counts-Chopli 17:20, 23. Walker Thompson 17:42, 25. Derek Wheatley 18:03.

Washington: 3. Robert Hogg 16:08, 7. Laurent Hakizimana 16:34, 11. Joe Berry 16:44, 15. Matt Wittman 17:07, 16. Jon Rockwell 17:12, 17. Trevor Luebe 17:13, 24. Blair Burdt 17:48.

Marion: 6. Lukas Mees 16:28, 19. Cole Kuethe 17:25, 20. Greg Sam 17:32, 21. Peter Rethwisch 17:37, 26. Isaac Smith 18:22, 28. Jordan Garthwaite 18:45, 30. Colton Forster 19:05.

Xavier: 22. Luke Koechner 17:42, 27. Hunter Wille 18:36, 29. Evan Bednar 18:59, 31. Brandon Gradoville 19:27, 32. Bryce Volk 19:33, 33. Jacob Herndon 19:43.

Girls Teams

Linn-Mar: 1. Carolyn Newhouse 14:56, 2. Rachel Perry 15:18, 3. Morgan Uridil 15:18, 4. Brooklynn Kascel 15:20, 6. Maddie Saville 15:33, 8. Caitlin Novak 16:13, 13. Sydney Johnston 16:37.

Prairie: 7. Bree Gaster 15:50, 9. Beth Heims 16:21, 10. Anastasia Jordan 16:26, 15. Amanda Wever 16:46, 17. Maddie Rainey 16:55, 22. Brittney England 17:27, 27. Anna Rubsam 17:43.

Washington: 5. Shannon Gorman 15:24, 11. Katie Karamitros 16:28, 14. Morgan Stuckenschneider 16:45, 16. Madison Stuckenschneider 16:52, 20. Anna Kline 17:06, 24. Kylie Coutentos 17:31, 28. Taylor Temple 17:46.

Xavier: 12. Sarah Chicchelly 16:30, 18. Ann Glavan 17:00, 19. Marinna Schroud 17:00, 21. Lauren Smith 17:27, 25. Haylee Burns 17:32, 29. Kim Leskovec 17:47.

Marion: 23. Ellen Cannon 17:30, 26. Tara Zumwalt 17:36, 30. Alexis Timp 18:02, 31. Grace Ehlinger 18:11, 32. Michaela Jacobs 18:12, 33. Sam Livingston 18:27, 34. Abby Kolarick 18:28.

Josh Evans climbs to No.1 in cross country

Linn-Mar sophomore Josh Evans has moved into the No.1 spot in the Class 4A cross country rankings after his impressive performance at the Heartland Classic in Ames Saturday.

Evans placed second at the Heartland Classic behind a runner from Minnesota, but he finished ahead of the runners from Iowa who were ranked 1-2 in the poll last week.

Evans was ranked No.3 last week, but he climbed past Cole Decker of Dowling Catholic and Ben Anderson of West Des Moines Valley this week. Decker fell from No.1 to No.3 and Anderson stayed in the No.2 spot.

Etienne Nzoyisaba and Robert Hogg of Washington are ranked 5th and 6th this week. Jacob Aune and Mitch Pritts of Prairie are ranked 17th and 20th. Chase Grabau of Linn-mar is ranked 23th and Trevor Oates of Kennedy is 24th.

Lukas Meese of Marion is ranked No.4 in Class 3A.

Five members of the Linn-Mar girls cross country team are ranked in the Top 25 in Class 4A with Carolyn Newhouse 4th, Brooklyn Kascel 18th, Morgan Uridil 19th, Maddie Saville 24th and Rachel Perry 25th.

Katie Wampole of Kennedy is ranked 29th and Shannon Gorman of Washington is 30th. Karissa Schweizer of Dowling Catholic is ranked No.1 in

Josh Evans takes 2nd at Heartland Classic

AMES - Linn-Mar sophomore Josh Evans beat the top-ranked runners in Iowa Saturday and finished second at the prestigious Heartland Classic cross country meet in Ames.

Josh Thorson of Wayzata, Minn., won the race in 15 minutes, 31 seconds. Evans placed second in 15:44, making him the top finisher among all Iowans in the meet.

Dowling Catholic senior Cole Decker, the top-ranked runner in Iowa, placed fifth Saturday. West Des Moines Valley junior Ben Anderson, who is ranked second in the state, finished third.

Evans was ranked third in the state this past week but could vault to No.1 with his impressive showing Saturday.

Linn-Mar finished fifth in the boys standings out of 25 teams. Dowling Catholic won the title, followed by Wayzata (Minn.), Edina (Minn.), Shawnee Mission South (Kan.) and the Lions. Teams from five states competed in the meet.

Jacob Aune of Prairie placed ninth out of 171 runners in 16:18. Mitch Pritts of Prairie finished 12th in 16:25, helping the Hawks place ninth in the team standings.

The Linn-Mar girls finished in second place out of 27 teams in their race Saturday. Dowling Catholic won the title with 45 points, followed by the Lions (87) and Bettendorf (112). Prairie was 17th.

Linn-Mar senior Carolyn Newhouse finished fifth out of 185 runners in 14:34. The Lions placed five runners in the top-25 with Brooklyn Kascel 18th, Morgan Uridil 19th, Maddie Saville 22nd and Rachel Perry 23rd.

6TH ROOSEVELT HEARTLAND CLASSIC
Iowa State Course

Boys Team Standings

1. Dowling Catholic 122, 2. Wayzata (Minn.) 155, 3. Edina (Minn.) 155, 4. Shawnee Mission South (Kan.) 159, 5. Linn-Mar 175, 6. Liberty (Mo.) 200, 7. Ames 214, 8. Iowa City West 220, 9. Prairie 257, 10. Fremont (Neb.) 264, 11. Waukee 299, 12. West Des Moines Valley 304, 13. Pella 309, 14. Indianola 326, 15. Shawnee Mission Northwest (Kan.) 362, 16. Millard North (Neb.) 405, 17. Bettendorf 427, 18. Shawnee Mission North (Kan.) 441, 19. Johnston 464, 20. DM Roosevelt 478, 21. Ankeny 509, 22. Blue Valley North
(Kan.) 575, 23. Lincoln North Star (Neb.) 625, 24. DM Lincoln 804, 25. DM Hoover 823.

Girls Team Standings

1. Dowling Catholic 45, 2. Linn-Mar 87, 3. Bettendorf 112, 4. Wayzata (Minn.) 147, 5. West Des Moines Valley 185, 6. Waukee 188, 7. Shawnee Mission Northwest (Kan.) 200, 8. DM Roosevelt 213, 9. IC West 221, 10. Cedar Falls 274, 11. Ankeny 278, 12. Johnston 300, 13. Liberty (Mo.) 383, 14. Dallas Center-Grimes 411, 15. Ames 421, 16. Pella 458, 17. Prairie 461, 18. Millard North (Neb.) 507, 19. Eastview (Minn.) 519, 20. Indianola 535, 21. Blue Valley North (Kan.) 570, 22. Fremont (Neb.) 616, 23. Shawnee Mission North (Kan.) 652, 24. Lincoln North Star (Neb.) 684, 25. Shawnee Mission South (Kan.) 722, 26. Omaha Marian (Neb.) 730, 27. DM Hoover (876).

Top 15 Boys

1. Josh Thorson, Wayzata (Minn.)           15:31
2. Josh Evans, Linn-Mar                         15:44
3. Ben Anderson, WDM Valley                15:52
4. Danny Aldaba, Fremont (Neb.)            15:55
5. Cole Decker, Dowling                    16:00
6. Connor Olson, Wayzata (Minn.)           16:02
7. Mohamed Hamden, Lincoln (Neb.)          16:12
8. Zach Buchheit, Pella                    16:17
9. Jacob Aune, Prairie                     16:18
10. Shannon Hall, Liberty (Mo.)            16:19
11. Kirk Bado, Shawnee Mission (Kan.)      16:22
12. Mitch Pritts, Prairie                  16:25
13. Scott Leonard, Shawnee Mission (Kan.)  16:25
14. Arturo Garcia, Fremont (Neb.)          16:25
15. Ryan Cox, Millard (Neb.)               16:26

Top 15 Girls

1. Madison Waymire, Dallas Center-Grimes   14:06
2. Karissa Schweizer, Dowling              14:25
3. Mahnee Watts, Bettendorf                14:32
4. Emma Huston, DM Roosevelt               14:33
5. Carolyn Newhouse, Linn-Mar              14:34
6. Anna Peer, Bettendorf                   14:36
7. Pombie Silverman, IC West               14:40
8. Vanessa Miller, Dowling                 14:41
9. Jeralyn Poe, Lincoln (Neb.)             14:43
10. Grace Gibbons, Dowling                 14:48
11. Anna French, Wayzata (Minn.)           14:48
12. Alexandra Vaughan, Dowling             14:50
13. Hannah Thomas, Dowling                 14:51
14. Megan Nickles, Bettendorf              14:55
15. Grace Vander Welde, WDM Valley         14:55

Linn-Mar Boys Results

2. Josh Evans 15:44, 22. Chase Grabau 16:36, 43. Kyle Read 16:51, 53. Bryce Poellet 16:59, 55. Daniel Murphy 17:00, 72. Matt Simon 17:16, 125. Keegan Cook 18:01.

Prairie Boys Results

9. Jacob Aune 16:18, 12. Mitch Pritts 16:25, 46. Zach Waite 16:53, 92. Christi Counts-Choplick 17:31, 98. Walker Thompson 17:39, 143. Juan Loera 18:31, 153. Sean Koopman 18:58.

Linn-Mar Girls Results

5. Carolyn Newhouse 14:34, 18. Brooklyn Kascel 14:59, 19. Morgan Uridil 15:00, 22. Maddie Saville 15:07, 23. Rachel Perry 15:08, 63. Caitlin Novak 15:48, 130. Haley Berry 16:43.

Prairie Girls Results

53. Bree Gaster 15:38, 79. Amanda Weyer 16:01, 98. Beth Heims 16:12, 112. Maddie Rainey 16:21, 119. Katie Costigan 16:26, 132. Anastasia Jordan 16:44, 174. Anna Rubsam 17:53.