Trojan runners swept the competition with two first-place team finishes this past Tuesday at the AHSTW meet. Plaques were given out to the top two teams for boys and girls varsity. There was one race each for the boys and girls, with the top seven from each team scoring as varsity. The middle school race followed.

Head coach Dan Vargason said the goals for each team were to finish first or second. On the girls side, he thought it could’ve been a little more difficult with Logan-Magnolia being ranked first in 1A, but felt “both teams could win.” Individually he was looking to have a few runners in the top three and see how many more places could be filled in the top fifteen.

The boys finished with a 15 point lead over Red Oak and four individuals placed in the top fifteen: Jalen Petersen in second, Bradley Dennis third, Evan Brummer fifth and Cooper Jipsen 15th for a total of 44 points. “Not only did we win on both sides but we made up 17 points on Red Oak on the boys side in the last three weeks,” Vargason said. The rest of the varsity seven placed as follows: Ethan Williams in 19th, Zane Berg in 21st and Nathan Brockman in 23rd.

With all seven varsity runners finishing in the top fifteen on the girls side, they scored a total of 28 points, beating Logan-Magnolia by 18 points. “We won pretty handily over Logan who’s a very quality team,” Vargason said. Taylor McCreedy left with a first-place individual finish in a time of 19:46, a solid 51 seconds ahead of second-place. Next in the lineup was Karsyn Rush in fifth, Ashley Wendt sixth, Madison Botos seventh, Pluma Pross ninth, Addie DeArment 12th and Katie Saluk finished 15th to round out the varsity girls team. Botos said the team had discussed running as a group and staying together during the race as a way to strategize their run, as well as to push the person that they would be running with. She said, “It was a great course to run too.”

The runners continue their season this Saturday at Swan Lake in Carroll, with Class B varsity boys racing at 10:00 a.m. to start the day for the Trojans.