The running season is again off and going. As with early fall cross country meets, temperatures are something to be concerned with. LARPH’s boys’ team, plus its top girl runner, are forces to contend with. At La Crescent/Hokah’s “Crazy Buffalo” 4,000-meter run, LARPH’s guys took first with the individual champion. But the girls took second also with the individual champ. Matt Kingsbury’s reigning state champ guys’ squad (22) took first over Lake City (76), L/FC (78), Dover-Eyota (88), and the host Lancers (96) with Cotter/Hope Lutheran sending out just one runner. LARPH had five guys in the top eight and seven in the top 20. Junior Grayson Speltz (13:31), who took fourth a year ago at said run (13:38), was this year’s meet champion (13:31) over senior teammate Brennan Kunst (13:35). Will Jewison (14:24) and Henry Meyer (14:41) finished fifth and sixth, Cole Timm (14:56) eighth. Non-team-scoring runners Damian Gossen (15:25) and Cory Kotsmith (15:43) took 16th and 18th places. LFC’s top runner was Andy Brown (15:01) in ninth place. Quinn Lepper (15:08), Cooper Pickett (15:23), and Riley Grant (15:58) finished 11th, 15th, and 20th respectively (of 50 total runners). On the girls’ side, Lake City (36) comfortably won the team title over LARPH (68) and D-E (70). L/FC (92) and LC/H (92) took fourth and fifth while Schaeffer Academy had one runner compete. The Tigers had five in the top 11 and seven in the top 16. Individually, LARPH junior Caitlin Bauer (15:02) topped the LC/H duo of Maya Bartosova (15:13) and Hope Docan-Morgan (15:34). The Lancer pair finished 1-2 at the 3,200-meter, 100-competitor, Stewartville “Bill Glomski” Meet on September 3. Bauer’s new teammate, fellow state track and field qualifier in the spring, Emily Helgemoe (17:23), took sixth in her first varsity cross country race. Vada Larson (19:18) finished in 19th place. For L/FC, top runner and defending Section 1A champ Autumn Rakosnik did not run. The Burros’ top finishers were Grace Kingsley (18:43) and Charity Kingsley (18:47) in 13th and 14th places. L/FC also did not have Stella Charlebois. Forty-four girls competed in the event. Both races were run at Pine Creek Golf Course outside La Crescent.
A few days later, teams from LARPH, LFC, and Chatfield took on the massive “All-American” Invite in Decorah. LARPH’s Bauer (18:13.1) pulled off a massive accomplishment, winning the race with time to spare over Linn-Marr/Marion’s Hailey Kozloski (18:38.7). Bauer was one second off the course record and set the school record. She took 40th place at last year’s event (20:32.3), cutting almost two minutes off of her time. She’s been running with her LARPH boys teammateS and it shows. L/FC’s top runner, Autumn Rakosnik (19:56.7), also had a strong showing, finishing in ninth place. She took ninth place (19:03.4) a year ago at the event also. LARPH’s Emily Helgemoe (21:15) also made the top 50, taking 41st place. Two hundred twenty-two girls competed at the 5,000-meter event around Luther College. Iowa City-City High’s girls (54) won the team title over Linn-Mar Marion (133). LARPH (444) took 16th, LFC (461) 18th, and Chatfield (631) 24th place (of 29 total teams). On the boys’ side, Minnetonka (76) topped Iowa City-City High (95) for the team title. LARPH (189) took sixth, L/FC (580) 21st, and Chatfield (664) 26th (of 27 complete teams). Cotter/HL’s Erik Semling (15:24.3) and Ryan Littlefield (16:05.7) took first and second individually. LARPH’s Brennan Kunst (16:13.1) and Grayson Speltz (16:42.9) took 5th and 11th respectively to impressively make the top 15 while Will Jewison (17:26.3) took 35th to make the top 40. Kunst set a school record. LARPH’s guys took fifth a year ago at the event. Kunst and Speltz moved up from 27th and 26th places at the 2025 event. Neither L/FC or Chatfield had anyone in the top 50 (of 222) runners this season.
Leave a Reply