Tigers Place Third At RVC Meet

Tipton had two runners place in the top-10 at the River Valley Conference meet. Ben Ellis, left placed 9th and Caleb Shumaker, right, placed 8th and each earned Elite All-Conference honors at last week’s River Valley Conference cross-country meet in Iowa City. Photo Ryan Stonebraker. 

By Ryan Stonebraker
Sports Editor

IOWA CITY — The Tipton boy’s cross-country team placed the highest of the four Conservative area boy’s cross-country teams at last Thursday’s River Valley Conference meet.  There, the Tigers placed third in the 12-team meet with 82 points.  Bellevue claimed the conference title with a team low score of 34 and placing three runners in the top-5 and four in the top-10.  Mid-Prairie was second with 74 points.  The third place finish for the Tigers tied their highest finish at a RVC meet.  The Tigers placed third last season 104 points.  Tipton scored 82 points, their lowest point total in five RVC meets, besting last year’s point total.

Ranked teams in the field this year were class 2A schools #2 Mid-Prairie, #3 Tipton and teams to watch, Monticello.  Class 1A #2 Bellevue also was in the field.  Ranked 2A runners in the field were Floyd Evans (MP) #8, Ben Ellis (TIP) #10, Nathan Meyer (ICR) #12 and Wyatt Schmidt (NEGL) #20.  Ranked class 1A runners in the field were #11 Brady Gruebel (B), #16 Buddy Darting (WIL) and #28 Caleb Kress (B).

Tipton’s Trent Pelzer finished 14th overall 
and was named to the River Valley 
Conference, all-conference team. Photo Ryan Stonebraker. 

In the team scores, Bellevue won the meet with 34 points followed by Mid-Prairie with 74 and TIpton with 82.  Individually, Bellevue’s Caleb Kress won the meet in 17:22.  Kress is ranked 28th in class 1A.  Teammate Brady Griebel was second in 17:11.55 and Floyd Evans was third in 17:26.  All but three of the top-10 placewinners were ranked runners in either class 1A or 2A.

The Comets team title was their second RVC meet tile in five years.  The Comets joined Monticello as the only two RVC schools to win multiple team titles in the brief five-year history of the league.

Four Tigers earned all-conference honors at the meet.  Tipton junior Ben Ellis and freshman Caleb Shumaker were 8th and 9th in the race.  For their finishes, they both earned Elite All-Conference honors.  Ellis, who was an all-conference performer last season, finished in 17:47 while Shumaker finsihed in 17:45.  It was the third time that the Tigers have placed two runners in the top-10 finishers at and RVC meet.  Eric Lenz and Matt Pelzer accomplished the feat in 2013 and 2014.

Tipton sophomore Trent Pelzer placed 14th overall in a time of 18:13 to earn all-conference honors and junior Noah Jedlicka placed 24th in 18:53 to earn honorable all-conference honors.

Other Tipton finishers were senior Bryce Deerberg, 27th in 18:59 and freshman Brandon Valet 33rd in 19:25.

North Cedar placed 11th in the team scores with 353 points.  The Knights were led by senior Seamus Raney in 70th place in 20:30.  The 11th place finish was the third time in five RVC Meets that North Cedar has placed there.  Two other Knight runners placed in the top-100 finishers.  Devon Willis placed 89th in 21:11 and Treat Spahr placed 91st in 21:14.

Other North Cedar finishers were Robert Anderson 116th in 22:13, Joe Condon 117th in 22:13, Jacob Spahr 122nd in 22:37 and Dave Redhage in 152nd place in 25:12.  The Tigers and Knights

Tipton's Noah Jedlicka placed in the top-15 at the RVC Meet.

will run at the class 2A state qualifying meet in Iowa City at the same location as the River Valley Conference meet.  The start time will be 4:00 p.m. for all state qualifying meets statewide.  The 2017 state cross-country meet is scheduled for Saturday, October 28 in Fort Dodge.

Wildcats Place Three In Top-20

The Durant Wildcats are running their best right now and at the RVC meet they made that case with a strong team finish.  Led by three, top-20 finishers, the Wildcats placed fourth in the team race with 122 points.  The Wildcats have been steadily making an upward movement in the team standings the past few years.  Durant placed 10th in 2013 and 2014, but have improved each year since.  Durant placed 8th in 2015 and 7th last year before this year’s 4th place finish, their highest in the five RVC meets.

The Wildcats were led by three All-Conference performers two juniors and a sophomore.  Junior Easton Botkins led Durant with a 15th place finish in 18:18.  Sophomore Zach Hein was right behind him in 16th place in 18:21 and Jack Voss was 20th in 18:48.  It’s the first time Durant has had three all-conference runners in the RVC’s brief history.  Anthony Mundt gave the Wildcats four runners in the top-30 with a 29th place finish in 18:53.

Other Durant finishers were Jeremy Carnes 44th in 19:39, Bruce Dillabough 75th in 20:41 and Thomas Rhoades 109th in 21:57.

The Wildcats will run at the Solon, class 1A state qualifying meet this Thursday.

Two All-Conference Runners Pace Beavers

The Wilton cross-country team had two runners earn all-conference honors and one earned elite all-conference honors.  Sophomore Buddy Darting placed 4th at the meet in 17:41.  Darting was one of 10 runners earning Elite all-conference honors.  He is the only sophomore in the top-10 and of the top-10, three are either freshmen or sophomores.  Senior Noah Brown placed 17th in 18:28 to earn all-conference honors for placing in the top-20 finishers.

Other Wilton finishers were Chase Montagna 66th, Isaac Hunter 76th, Ethan Bailey 87th, Cole Rabedeaux 90th and Leif Clevenger 93rd.

The Beavers placed 9th in the team standings with 206 team points which is the lowest team point total in five RVC meets for Wilton.  The Beavers placed 8th in the first RVC meet in 2013 with 212 points.  The next four meets, Wilton has placed 9th in the team race.  

The Beavers will run at the Solon, class 1A state qualifying meet this Thursday.

2017 River Valley Conference Meet

Boy’s Team Scores:

1. Bellevue 34, 2. Mid-Prairie 74, 3. Tipton 82, 4. Durant 122, 5. Monticello 144, 6. NE Goose Lake 144, 7. Iowa City Regina 188, 8. Camanche 199, 9. Wilton 206, 10. Cascade 251, 11. North Cedar 353, 12. West Liberty 361.

Elite All-Conference:

1. Caleb Kress (B) 17:22.02, 2. Brady Griebel (B) 17:22.55, 3. Floyd Evans (MP) 17:26, 4. Buddy Darting (WIL) 17:41, 5. Alex Reed (B) 17:42, 6. Wyatt Schmidt (NEGL) 17:44, 7. Kyle Guenther (B) 17:44, 8. Caleb Shumaker (T) 17:45, 9. Ben Ellis (T) 17:47, 10. Nathan Meyer (ICR) 17:48.

River Valley Conference All-Conference:

11. Peyton Miller (MP) 18:07, 12. Andrew Hilgendorf (NEGL) 17:50, 13. Quinn Schmidt (MP) 18:07, 14. Trent Pelzer (T) 18:13, 15. Easton Botkins (D) 18:18, 16. Zach Hein (D) 18:21, 17. Noah Brown (WIL) 18:28, 18. Aaron Loes (MONTI) 18:40, 19. Griffin Benson (B) 18:47, 20. Jack Voss (D) 18:48.

River Valley Conference Honorable Mention:

21. Dodson Melchiori (CAM) 18:50, 22. Cary Schaefer (MP) 18:51, 23. Cole Cruise (MONTI) 18:53, 24. Noah Jedlicka (T) 18:53, 15. Marshal Teets (MP) 28:53.

Individual Team Results:

TIPTON (82): 8. Caleb Shumaker 17:45, 9. Ben Ellis 17:47, 14. Trent Pelzer 18:13, 24. Noah Jedlicka 18:53, 27. Bryce Deerberg 18:59, 33. Brandon Valet 19:25.

DURANT (122): 15. Easton Botkins 18:18, 16. Zach Hein 18:21, 20. Jack Voss 18:48, 29. Anthony Mundt 19:15, 44. Jeremy Carnes 19:39, 75. Bruce Dillabough 20:41, 109. Thomas Rhoades 21:57.

WILTON (206): 4. Buddy Darting 17:41, 17. Noah Brown 18:28, 66. Chase Montagna 20:21, 76. Isaac Hunter 20:45, 87. Ethan Bailey 21:07, 90. Cole Rabedeaux 21:13, 93. Leif Clevenger 21:20.

NORTH CEDAR (353): 70. Seamus Raney 20:30, 89. Devon Willis 21:11, 91. Treat Spahr 21:14, 116. Robert Anderson 22:13, 117. Joe Condon 22:13, 122. Jacob Spahr 22:37, 152. Dave Redhage 25:12.

Junior Varsity Results:

TIPTON — 54. Kayden Rezac 20:00, 56. Colby Kleppe 20:05, 64. Alex Reynolds 20:20, 71. Kael Jauron 20:31, 74. Caleb Jedlicka 20:41, 94. Brendan Nantz 21:21, 98. Tiger Emrich 21:32, 102. Gavin Belitz 21:48, 103. Craig Shaffer 21:49, 106. Landon Hill 21:51.

DURANT — 139. Koby Paulsen 24:05, 148. Braden Wagner 25:00, 151. Aaron Schwarz 25:07, 163. Andrew Schemmel 33:15.

WILTON — 95. Nathaniel Fagner 21:23, 108. Cody McDonald 21:55, 111. Colby Brown 22:01, 119. Mason Marquez 22:33, 125. Josh Hunter 22:51, 128. Jake Said 23:02, 131. Colten Berggren 23:13, 136. Riley Allen 23:53, 138. Chase Garvin 24:00, 154. Jacob Reifert 25:55.

NORTH CEDAR — 158. Ryan Spahr 27:09.