The TMB girls’ cross country team finished fifth at the Lakeview Invitational on Monday.
Miranda Mischke was the top Panther runner, taking 10th place with a time of 22:29.60. Gracelynn Struchen was 51st at 32:57.55, and Jaeda Nelson was two spots behind her with a time of 36:28.07.
“A couple of highlights from the races were Miranda Mischke, CC who finished with a time of 22:29, which is 5 seconds away from a PR, and placed 10th in the varsity race,” Panther coach Billy Dean said. “Gracelynn Struchen ran this race more than 3 minutes faster than what she ran it last year, and Jaeda Nelson ran her first 5k and finished the race strong. Every runner on this team has so much potential, and I am extremely happy with how we ran today and I look forward to the kids getting a little better everyday and having a great year.”
For the boys, Weston Marten came in 26th at 20:21.02 and set a new PR; Jackson Jenniges was 35th at 20:51.79, also a PR; Taylor Squires took 39th place at 21:18.74; Jaxter Pfarr was 41st at 21:30.54; Logan Petersen ran a 22:33.95 for 56th place; and Tyson Peterson was 71st at 24:44.94.
Other Panther finishers were Noah Schmidt (73rd at 24:50.52); Owen Beier (77th at 25:53.54); Zach Jones (78th at 25:37.06); and Adam Hippe (94th at 32:30.58). Squires, Pfarr, Jones, Peterson and Hippe were among those who were running their first cross country meet.
“Noah Schmidt was our seventh boy runner, and he ran this race about 3 minutes faster than last year,” Dean said. “Owen Beier shaved off nearly 9 minutes from his first 5k last year to this year. Jaxter Pfarr really impressed me this first race. He is a newcomer this year and finished fourth with a time of 21:30, and Logan Peterson came back out after taking a year off and was our fifth runner with a new PR — 2 minutes faster than his previous best.”
Lainey Jackels ran the girls’ JH 2,100-meter race in 8:27, which was about 50 seconds faster than last year, and placed seventh.
Also for the junior high, Sam Wiborg was 16th at 8:26.38; Gatlin Struchen was 22nd with a time of 8:47.28; and Trajan Swanjord finished 33rd at 12:18.16.
“Gatlin Struchen and Sam Wiborg ran a minute faster in the junior high race than what they did last year,” said Dean. “Trajan Swanjord had his first junior high race today and gave a great effort.”
TMB will host its lone home meet of the season on Sept. 4 at the golf course, with a start time of 4:15 p.m.
