North Mahaska’s cross country teams scored big at the South Iowa Cedar League cross country championships held Tuesday at Big Spring Shooting Range. The meet was hosted by Tri-County.
Emmerson Jedlicka captured the title in the varsity girls while Brayden Veiseth took second but earned first in the team race to lead the boys to a runnerup finish. Three junior high girls finished in the top 10 including Jade DeBoef’s runnerup spot.
Emmerson Jedlicka
Jedlicka, who is ranked 26th in Class 1A, covered the course in 20 minutes 14.52 seconds, finishing 34 seconds ahead of Addison Achenbach of English Valleys, who ran 20:48.55. Ava Huffman placed 14th in 24:00.31 and Alivia Schock was 23rd in 25:31.80.
Veiseth and English Valleys’ Gage Heyne renewed their rivalry with Heyne winning in 16:31.57. Veiseth finished in 17:19.25, but EV did not have enough runners for a team score, so Veiseth got the first place point. All five NM runners scored in the top 18. Ben Yang earned fifth in 18:30,96 followed by Kincaid Mitchell in 19:35.06, Maddox Wynja was 16th in 20:07.03 and Clay Thompson 18th in 20:18.72.
Brayden Veiseth
HLV, however, won the team title with 44 points, North Mahaska had 54 followed closely by Lynnville-Sully with 58. Montezuma had 91, Belle Plaine 97 and Colfax-Mingo 143.
Jedlicka and Veiseth’s efforts earned them first team all-conference, and Ben Yang was named to the second team.
DeBoef and Anna Leuers of English Valleys have been battling for top finished this season in the junior high races as well.
Leuers finished in 9:40.14 with DeBoef second in 10:06.93. Trinity McKee took fifth in 10:12.87 and Addelynn Jedlicka was 10th in 11:21.93. Rounding out the Warhawk effort was Mallory Schippers in 31st in 16:15.01.
Cain Grandia took a top 10 finish placing 18th in 11:53.38.
The efforts brought praise from coach Seth Streebin.
“We had awesome results,” said Streebin. “Everyone ran their best meet of the year. I loved how hard everyone ran. We have worked hard all year and it’s been a long season. We were ready for this meet, and it showed. Everyone showed up and did great.”
North Mahaska will run next Thursday at the state qualifier at Pine Lake Country Club in Eldora beginning at 4 p.m. The meet is hosted by South Hardin School District.