New faces to help lead Creston cross country teams

Eight new runners will join eight returners on the Creston cross country team this season.

For the second year, both girls and boys have enough members to score as a team, the boys with six and the girls with nine.

Girls

The girls team returns all five runners from a year ago. Seniors Payton Davis and Karter Clayton will be looked at as leaders for the young team.

The team also returns junior Abby Freeman and sophomores Gretchen Hopeker and Reese Strunk.

Davis and Strunk led the team last season in times, finishing 23rd and 44th, respectively, at the Hawkeye 10 meet in Glenwood last season. Now they’ll have some help up front.

“We will have a lot of help up top this year,” Coach Maggie Arnold said. “Cora Smith was the winner of the time trial and Maylee Riley was right behind Reese. That will look nice.”

Davis did not participate in the time trial as she recovers from injury.

Smith is a freshman coming off a stellar middle school track and field season as a 400m specialist.

“Long distance is new for her, but she’s finding her pace in the 5K,” Arnold said. “She’s hopefully going to be a little surprise for us.”

Riley, a junior, found her groove in the 800m run in track last season after primarily running sprints prior.

The Panthers will look to her as another scorer on the team.

Other newcomers are junior Grace Keeler and freshman Karlie Kruse. Kruse is also out with injury.

The Panthers placed eighth at the H10 meet last season with only five runners.

“With the addition of those new members this year, we are looking to place higher in the H10 this year,” Arnold said. “Those new faces are going to complement us really well. We should se huge improvements as a team since we have higher numbers. Now we can focus more on the team aspect.”

Boys

The boys team will look vastly different than it did a year ago. The team had nine a year ago and will race with seven this season.

In addition to losing tow seniors, three additional runners will not be out for the sport this year.

Fortunately, the Panthers gained four newcomers and regained three returners.

Returning this season will be juniors Hector Suazo and Kylen Parsons as well as sophomore Wyatt Goodenberger.

“Hector led the way for us in the time trial,” Arnold said. “He plays soccer in the spring. He’s got his pace figured out better this year. With boys, you see them grow, mature, and get stronger and faster each year.”

With Parsons and Goodenberger in track in the spring, Arnold is optimistic about their growth for the season.

“Wyatt had a strong track and field season,” she said. “I think we will see big improvements out of Kylen too. In the time trial, they all looked better than they did all of last year.”

Spencer Brown will be the team’s only senior as he is out for the sport for the first time.

“He does tennis in the spring,” Arnold said. “He’s a really nice boy and a good leader amongst his peers. He does well in the classroom, and is just a good kid you want on your team.”

Sophomore Johnathon Henry is out this season after competing in track and field as a freshman.

The team also gains two freshman —Austin Jondle and Colt Key.

Jondle finished second in the time trial and will be looked to as a big contributor this season.

The season begins Tuesday, Aug. 27 at the Shenandoah Early Bird Invitational.

“We just really like to use Shenandoah as an opportunity to get our feet wet,” Arnold said. “There are no junior high teams running there. We get to see some familiar Hawkeye 10 faces there as well. It’s a unique course on their school grounds. We like to use it as our final tune up to start the season.”

With only one change in schedule, the Panthers will swap out the Maryville meet for a meet at West Central Valley.

Their schedule features a number of races near home for fans to watch including races in Winterset, Osceola, Stuart and the home meet on Sept. 24.

“I would really encourage people to come out to our home meet,” Arnold said. “It’s their only chance to watch them at home.”