Three Trojans teams came in third at the Cyclone Invitational on Saturday: varsity girls, varsity boys and JV girls. The invitational gave the Trojan cross country teams another chance to compete against local schools. The meet began with the JV boys race, followed by varsity boys, varsity girls and JV girls. However, a 20-minute delay due to issues with the timing system pushed back the start of the races.

All teams have shown steady improvement as the season moves along, with the varsity boys beating teams they hadn’t in previous meets such as Red Oak and Lewis Central, and the varsity girls closing point gaps with rival teams Harlan and Glenwood. The boys totaled 97 points; taking third to CB Jefferson’s 57 points and Glenwood’s 67 points. The girls were just eight points short of a second place finish with 76 but were a solid 60 points ahead of fourth-place Abraham Lincoln. Harlan girls finished first with 42 points and Glenwood second with 68.

Jalen Petersen has been a consistent leader for boys varsity, placing third in a time of 17:18.46. Flip-flop second and third runners Evan Brummer and Bradley Dennis placed sixth and 10th respectively. Cooper Jipsen finished 36th, with the next three runners in an almost identical spread: Zane Berg in 48th, Ethan Williams in 59th and Nathan Brockman in 68th.

Just nine seconds from the first-place finisher Janette Schraft of Glenwood and over a full minute ahead of third-place Raegan Andersen of Denison, Taylor McCreedy was once again the top finisher for varsity girls in second. She finished her race in 18:47.49. A one-two finish by Madison Botos and Ashley Wendt in 14th and 15th came next, followed by Karsyn Rush in 20th. Pluma Pross was the fifth runner for the Trojans in 25th place with Addie DeArment just two spots behind in 27th. Abby Altman completed the varsity seven with a 35th place finish.

JV girls had a good run and finished third with a total of 59 points, led by junior Katie Saluk in third place with a time of 21:50.52. Saluk has contributed to both the varsity and JV teams for the duration of the season. Kelsie Seidlik followed Saluk in ninth place, with Corri Pelzer and Erin Wendt not far behind in 12th and 14th. With a 24th place finish, Halsey Bailey rounded out the JV girls team.

In a field of 11 teams, the JV boys finished fifth. With a time of 20:12.24, senior Tyler Roenfeld led the team in 17th. Next were two back-to-back finishes: Isaac Altman and Caleb Spurr in 43rd and 44th place and Clayton Jipsen and Ben Andersen in 48th and 49th place. Sixth and seventh runners for the JV boys were freshman Alex Sampson in 59th and senior Alvin Nantz in 61st. The team scored a total of 168 points.