Posted: Aug 29, 2017

RedTail Cross Country Competes in First Ever Meet

Mikki Mundus (9), Shea Dahlstrom (6), and Isaac Connolly (16) come to the finish line in their respective races.

COUNCIL BLUFFS- The RedTail Men's and Women's Cross Country teams opened their inaugural season at the Region XI Time Trials in Council Bluffs, IA this past weekend. The women took third place out of nine teams while the men placed fourth out of eight teams.

Leading the way for the women was Joanna Topham, who posted a new school record time of 19:59 finishing 6th overall at the meet. "We were very pleaed with her performance, she puts herself out there that first mile and as a result she had a big personal best.", said head coach Micah Ruroden. Next for the lady RedTails was Shea Dahlstrom (21:17) and Mikki Mundus (21:30), placing 12th and 13th respectively. The surprise finishes of the meet came from first year cross country runner, Atlanta Groeneveld (23:22) and Waterloo East grad, Autumn Weekley (23:51), placing 26th and 31st respectively. "These young ladies seem to impress us a little more each day during training, these girls push themselves each and every day in practice and it has shown in our first meet this year.", said Ruroden. The final finisher for the RedTails was Divine Washington (31:03) finishing 38th overall.

For the men, Peter Torkelson posted a school record of 16:31 and a 12th place finish at the time trials. "Peter ran a well-rounded race and was patient from the beginning", said coach Ruroden. Landon Boomsma of Iowa Falls was the surprise runner for the men finishing 15th overall with a personal best of 16:36. Finishing next for the team was Dalton Gosch (16:39, 16th) Isaac Connolly (16:42, 18th), David Thompson (16:45, 20th), Ryan Millikin (16:57, 22nd), and Malcom Myers (17:08, 24th). "These guys really run well together in practices and it showed in how close they were in finishing. We were able to run as a pack and we had a great initial showing for our first meet in program history", said Coach Ruroden.

Coach Ruroden said, "Overall we felt we we had a great showing of effort from both squads. The men were close to putting themselves in third place, and the women were close to second place. As we continue to get stronger throughout the season, we should be able to shake some things up in our conference on both sides."