Warriors place three runners in top-10 at Peabody meet years ago
Sports reporter
Marion High School cross country teams have had success in the past, including a 1991 state championship.
With numbers down in recent years, that type of success has been absent.
Until now.
Although MHS still has smaller numbers and trouble competing against larger 3A schools, it has turned in some pretty impressive individual performances this year.
It was no different Thursday as three Warriors placed in the top-10, and three others received medals for finishing in the top-16.
"It was brutal," head coach Rex Ostmeyer said of the course at Peabody. "But it was great for a cross country race."
The course began in the middle of a field, turned into a county road, and then finished through the city park.
Junior Daniel Goentzel led MHS with a second-place finish and a 3.1-mile time of 19:16.
Ostmeyer said times were slow for everyone because of the difficulty of the course.
He noted Peabody-Burns runner Andrew Topham, who won the race by almost a minute, ran two minutes slower than his normal time.
All that matters is how a runner finishes, and Ostmeyer was pleased with Goentzel.
"He is the textbook example of how off-season conditioning is the key to success in any sport," Ostmeyer said. "He worked harder than anyone else and he has the success to show for it."
Junior Luke Bowers was the next finisher for MHS, and the entire race, coming in third with a time of 19:37.
Sophomore Justin Heidebrecht claimed the last Warrior boys' medal with a time of 20:54, good enough for 11th-place.
Matt Kirkpatrick (23:07), Ben Leppke (23:13), Bryce Nelson (27:25), and Kerim Geldimuradov (27:26) were the other boys' finishers.
Junior Danielle Cope once again paced the girls' team with a respectable fourth-place finish after a two-mile time of 14:29.
Sophomore Tacy Taylor missed out on a top-10 by four spots, taking 14th with a time of 15:11.
Junior Katie Hett was right behind Taylor in 16th with a race time of 15:16.
Juniors Emily Svoboda (18:13) and Elisa Gayle (19:19) were the next runners to finish for MHS.
MHS will host the Marion meet at 4:30 p.m. Thursday at Marion County Lake. Ostmeyer is looking forward to the home meet.
"We seem to garner a little bit of momentum from fans that line the dam," Ostmeyer said.
