Warhawks impress at home cross country meet

ROCKWELL – Class 1A fifth-ranked West Fork’s top-five runners know they have something special.

Among them, the lone senior Josh Reiter can’t help but be excited about the thought of what the Warhawks can do in the postseason.

All five of coach Mark Twedt’s scorers finished among the top-12 at its home meet on Monday, Sept. 23 to easily win the meet with 43 points.

“It’s great,” Reiter said. “We’re all proud of what we can do, when we get there and are the first group of people to pass the line, that’s a great feeling to do it together.”

Ask Reiter and he knows his teammates all finished high and within mere seconds of each other. Jakob Washington was the first Warhawk across the line in 17 minutes, 19.48 seconds. He was followed by Reiter, eighth in 18:05.76; Ren Heimer was ninth, less than two seconds back and both Cail Weaver and Noah Maske were 11-12, respectively, and only three seconds back of Heimer.

“We’re feeling pretty good about that,” Reiter said. “All of our meets, we really don’t have a team to worry about too much.”

The only team, in fact, to give West Fork a battle was a Class 3A team that edged the Warhawks last week at Clear Lake.

“That was fun to give us a challenge,” Reiter said of his team’s first runner-up finish. “(It) makes us run faster, makes us better.”

Forest City’s Joey Hovinga won the meet with a tie of 17:06.86 with Lake Mills’ lead runner Carson Rygh not competing at the meet.

Reiter has seen the previous state cross country teams at West Fork, the runner-up teams of 2013 and 2014 and he knows that the Warhawks have the potential to come close.

“I’m hoping we can cut a bit more time off, get into the 17:40s, possibly,” Reiter said. “Hopefully, (we’ll go to) state and placing high. I think we’re getting there (to the state-caliber level), we have a little bit to go to get there, but I think we’re getting there.”

Meanwhile, the West Fork girls finished runner-up as a team behind state-ranked Mason City Newman behind a second-place individual finish for Kacie Eisentrager.

The sophomore used a strategy of sticking behind Class 1A No. 22 Lindsey Davidson for the first mile and a half. Though the eventual winner put distance between her, second place was Eisentrager’s alone.

“I really know that when I stick with her that I can get a better time and that’s what I’ve been wanting to get this whole year,” Eisentrager said. “And I knew that I really wanted to beat Chloe (Nelson of Mason City Newman) today, so I knew I had to stick with her and I did.”

Davidson won the girls’ title in 20:30 while Eisentrager came across in 21:24. Mycah Weaver was fourth behind Nelson in 21:58 as the Warhawk girls scored 57 points to finish behind the Lady Knights (31).

Also included in coach Twedt’s team scoring were Jordan Swenson (15), RaeLynn Nash (17) and Sydney Nuehring (19).

“I think we need to stay more together as a pack,” Eisentrager said of her team’s chances in the postseason, “if we do that, we’ll be sitting pretty well.”

2019 West Fork Cross Country Invite

Girls Team Scoring

1. Mason City Newman 31; 2. West Fork 57; 3. Forest City 76; 4. North Iowa 109; 5. Central Springs 130; 6. Belmond-Klemme 154; 7. North Butler 170.

West Fork (57)– 2. Kacie Eisentrager 21:24; 4. Mycah Weaver 21:58; 15. Jordan Swenson 23:31; 17. RaeLynn Nash 24:00; 19. Sydney Nuehring 24:42; 23. Ava Henricks 25:20; 29. Delaney Christianson 25:42; 51. Keanna Peterson 29:10.

Boys Team Scoring

1. West Fork 43; 2. Mason City Newman 71; 3. Central Springs 72; 4. Forest City 87; 5. North Butler 114; 6. Lake Mills 153; 7. North Iowa 172; 8. Belmond-Klemme 216.

West Fork (43)– 3. Jakob Washington 17:19.48; 8. Josh Reiter 18:05.76; 9. Ren Heimer 18:07.97; 11. Cail Weaver 18:10.25; 12. Noah Maske 18:10.91; 18. Trent Despenas 18:46.23; 35. Colin Martinek 20:28.51; 89. Jacob Swenson 25:33.40.