Warhawks race to first at Maynes Grove

HAMPTON – Ask West Fork senior Jakob Washington how his ankle feels, he’s still feeling a little pain from an injury in the off-season.

However, he sure looks like he is in good form with a fifth-place overall finish and led the Warhawks to the boys’ team title at the 2020 Bulldog Invitational at Maynes Grove on Thursday, Oct. 1.

“I’m feeling a little bit of pain,” Washington said, “especially on the courses that have more hills and put more pressure on my ankle, but I think my confidence is going up, my ankle is getting back. I’m starting to get in shape again.

“This Summer I was motivated and now I’m starting to come back and just getting a little more.”

His teammate, Cail Weaver, was right behind him for sixth-place overall, with only two seconds separating the two and coach Mark Twedt’s team scoring had its top-five finish among the top-35 out of 69 with Noah Maske (11), Sage Suntken (15) and Colin Martinek (35). The Warhawks scored 72 points to best Central Springs (78), which had the overall individual champion in Bryce McDonough and his twin brother, Clayton McDonough, was fourth.

This was the first varsity experience for most of the Warhawks at Maynes Grove, considering the 2018 and ’19 meets were canceled due to course conditions.

“Never ran on it before because the last two years it was canceled, and those were the only other years I ran,” Washington said. “I didn’t expect it to be this tough. That first mile was pretty much all downhill, and the last two miles were all uphill, so it’s a big gut-check. So, to come across the finish line, knowing I ran that time, which was not what I thought it was going to be, but I’m getting lower and lower, so it’s pretty good.

“The last time a few of them ran it was eighth grade, so it’s changed a little bit since then, so it was a pretty tough course, but at the same time, we all ran better than we thought we were going to run, so that gives us more confidence for flatter courses, or other courses that are up and down like this.”

Considering the difficulty of this course, this gives Washington and his teammates hope that West Fork can make a return to the state cross country field.

“I’m excited to keep going,” Washington said. “Keep trying harder and harder. Right now, this year, we’re going harder. We’re not taking easy days before meets. We had a tough workout with high paces and my legs were sore going into these meets and this is what we need to take the step, running two times a day and some easier days. Hopefully, get back to state. Take it, conference, district and hopefully state, one step at a time.”

The West Fork girls were third out of seven full teams, scoring 65 and paced by a sixth-place overall finish for Kacie Eisentrager.

Rounding out team scoring for the Warhawks girls were RaeLynn Nash (12), Mycah Weaver (14), Olivia Jones (15) and Jordan Swenson (19).

The overall individual girls’ champion was Bulldog freshman Lydia Maas, who ran the second-best time ever on the Maynes Grove course in 19:22.07.

2020 Bulldog Invitational

Varsity Boys Team Scoring

1. West Fork 72; 2. Central Springs 78; 3. Garner-Hayfield-Ventura 95; 4. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 119; 5. North Butler 131; 6. Hampton-Dumont 140; 7. Osage 147; 8. Sumner-Fredericksburg 158; 9. Nashua-Plainfield 194; 10. Tripoli 207.

West Fork (72)– 5. Jakob Washington 18:18.86; 6. Cail Weaver 18:20.44; 11. Noah Maske 18:46.90; 15. Sage Suntken 18:54.56; 35. Colin Martinek 20:27.16; 48. Ethan Shields 22:05.65; 46. Austin Atlick 21:59.20.

Hampton-Dumont (140)– 13. Jace Spurgeon 18:49.14; 17. Jack Showalter 18:57.84; 33. Marshal Rust 20:22.36; 36. Andyn Showalter 20:37.75; 41. Eli Fink 21:26.80.

JV Boys Team Scoring

1. C-G-D 23; 2. West Fork 33.

West Fork (33)– 4. Jake Swenson 23:25.85; 5. Sander Tompkins 23:28.95; 6. Trent Despenas 23:56.05; 7. Edison Maske 24:08.56; 11. Blake White 27:02.31.

Hampton-Dumont (no team score)– 10. Noah Shaver 23:35.63; 14. Johnathon Simons 24:18.20; 24. Mickey Rosenberg 30:01.39.

Junior High Boys Team Scoring

1. Waverly-Shell Rock 47; 2. Hampton-Dumont 62; 3. Clarion-Goldfield-Dows 76; 4. Nashua-Plainfield 97; 5. Sumner-Fredericksburg 127; 6. North Butler 138; 7. Webster City 148.

Hampton-Dumont (62)– 1. Miles Rust 11:29.57; 3. Peyton Kofoot 13:17.29; 10. Isaac Vosburg 13:52.19; 21. Isaac Sauke 15:45.41; 28. Jacob Cady 17:33.86; 37. Liam Murray 18:40.61.

West Fork (No team score)– 27. Trent Wise 15:33.69; 28. Eli Muhlenbruch 15:33.72.