Braves Cross-Country team starts season at Williamsburg meet

by Ryan Stonebraker

        WILLIAMSBURG - The Montezuma cross-country teams began their seasons on Tuesday, September 3 at the Williamsburg Raider cross-country Invitational. There, the girl’s team placed 10th and the boy’s team placed 11th.  Montezuma ran at the Pekin Panther Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 5, and will be back in action on Tuesday, September 10 at the Grinnell Tiger Invitational at Ahrens Park.
      On the girl’s side, the Braves placed 10th with 263 points.  Mid-Prairie won the girl’s team race with 32 points.  Williamsburg was the runner-up with 54 points and PCM was third with 71 points.  Fellow SICL teams Belle Plaine, HLV, and Iowa Valley were also at the meet.
      Brooklyn Stutzman from Mid-Prairie was the overall female winner in a time of 19:52. Williamsburg’s Channing Becker was the runner-up in a time of 20:12.  Montezuma’s top runner was Ellen Cook who placed 29th in 23:48.  Other Brave finishers were Alexa Rose 49th, Claire Erselius 51st, Sophia Semprini 65th, and Hialeah Eichenberger 69th.
       On the boy’s side, Montezuma placed 11th with 327 points. Mid-Prairie won the meet with a team score of 38 while Grinnell was the team runner-up with 65 points.  Emmet Swartzentruber from Mid-Prairie was the overall winner in 16:56 while Will Schmidgall from Mediapolis was the runner-up in a time of 17:00.  HLV finished one team ahead of the Braves in 10th place with 297 points.
       Dayton Reif led Montezuma runners with a 62nd place finish in 21:24. Other Montezuma finishers were Cael Cheney 68th, Cade Lowry 71st, Jusiah Wetering 72nd, Bryson Stockman 79th, and Linkyn Bru 80th.

Williamsburg Raider Invitational - Girl's Team Scores
Tuesday, Sept. 3
At Williamsburg
Girl’s Team Scores: 1. Mid-Prairie 32, 2. Williamsburg 54, 3. PCM 71, 4. Oskaloosa 103, 5. Davis County 164, 6. Newton 171, 7. Grinnell 192, 8. Benton Community 193, 9. Mediapolis 227, 10. Montezuma 263, 11. Waterloo Christian 321.  No Team Scores: Waterloo Christian, Belle Plaine, HLV, Iowa Valley.
Top-10 Finishers: 1. Brooklyn Stutzman (MP) 19:52, 2. Channing Becker (Williamsburg) 20:12, 3. Rachel Hostetler (MP) 20:23, 4. Kendal Landstrum (MP) 20:36, 5. Kyliee Zylstra (Grinnell) 20:58, 6. Tierney Carter (Oskaloosa) 21:05, 7. Abi Teeter (PCM) 21:24, 8. Lila Milani (PCM) 21:25, 9. Edie Axmear (Williamsburg) 21:36, 10. Audrey Muckler (Newton) 21:40.
Individual Team Results: 
MONTEZUMA (263): 29. Ellen Cook 23:48, 49. Alexa Rose 25:40, 51. Claire Erselius 25:45, 65. Sophia Semprini 28:08, 69. Hialeah Eichenberger 29:44.

Williamsburg Raider Invitational - Boy's Team Scores 
Tuesday, Sept. 3
At Williamsburg
Boy’s Team Scores: 1. Mid-Prairie 38, 2. Grinnell 65, 3. Williamsburg 99, 4. Newton 120, 5. Mediapolis 139, 6. PCM 144, 7. Oskaloosa 157, 8. Benton 214, 9. Davis County 234, 10. HLV 297, 11. Montezuma 327, 12. Waterloo Christian 342, 13. Belle Plaine 380.  No Team Scores: Iowa Valley.
Top-10 Finishers: 1. Emmet Swartzentruber (MP) 16:56, 2. Will Schmidgall (Mediapolis) 17:00, 3. Preston Yutzy (MP) 17:10, 4. Barrett Jesina (South Tama) 17:11, 5. Cadel Conner (Grinnell) 17:17, 6. Simon Wendel (Mediapolis) 17:23, 7. Jayse Yoder (MP) 17:24, 8. Colin Reed (Williamsburg) 17:52, 9. Aden Wolfe (Grinnell) 17:53, 10. Maxon Swartzentruber (MP) 17:55.
Individual Team Results: 
MONTEZUMA (327): 62. Dayton Reif 21:24, 68. Cael Cheney 21:42, 71. Cade Lowry 21:57, 72. Jusiah Wetering 21:59, 79. Bryson Stockman 22:39, 80. Linkyn Bru 23:03.