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Cross country medals two at Bluestem

Sports reporter

Although the Marion High School cross country team failed to claim any varsity medals, two runners took home top-10 medals at the junior varsity level.

Justin Heidebrecht and Laura Holt both finished 10th in their respective classes. Heidebrecht ran the 3.1-mile course in 21:12, and Holt finished her two-mile race in 15:24.

Coach Rex Ostmeyer thought Heidebrecht would do well running with other freshmen.

"I told him beforehand I thought he should win a medal," Ostmeyer said.

Holt impressed Ostmeyer as well. At the half-way mark of the race she was 18th, but she passed eight people during the last mile stretch.

"That obviously meant she was in good condition," Ostmeyer said.

Being in good condition shows improvement, something Ostmeyer set out as a top goal at the start of the season.

"We were running better times," he said. "But it's good to see we have something in the tank in the end."

All the sophomore boys ran varsity, and were led by Luke Bowers (19:09) and Daniel Goentzal (19:16). Neither took home a medal, but were running against more experienced competition.

Had they run junior varsity, they would have finished first and second respectively. With no juniors or seniors on the boys' team, all the sophomores are forced to run varsity.

"It's going to be tougher on them," Ostmeyer said. "But that's the way regionals is."

Ostmeyer said it's a delicate situation because you don't want a runner to get too comfortable running at the junior varsity level.

At the same time, it can be discouraging when a 30th-place finish would have been a first-place finish at the JV level.

All the runners can do now is focus on each meet as preparation for Regionals next month.

The Warriors will host a meet Thursday at Marion County Lake. The first race will begin at 4:30 p.m.

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