JV Teams Finish Season at Missouri Valley

Seniors+Brainhart+Buliche+and+Alvin+Nantz+work+together+around+a+corner+during+their+race.+Nantz+and+Buliche+finished+17th+and+26th%2C+respectively.+

Seniors Brainhart Buliche and Alvin Nantz work together around a corner during their race. Nantz and Buliche finished 17th and 26th, respectively.

The boys’ and girls’ JV cross country teams completed their seasons on Saturday, Oct. 13 at the Missouri Valley Cross Country Spectacular. Due to the amount of rain during the week, the course was altered from previous years but was still located at the Logan-Mo. Valley Country Club.

Teams were allowed to begin walking the course at 9 a.m. with the girls’ race starting at 10 a.m. “This year’s course was a little bit harder than last year’s and they didn’t really have anything marked off really well,” said junior Kelsie Siedlik. Overall, the Trojan girls placed first through fifth in the JV race, led by Heidi Williams. Following Williams was the rest of the JV team consisting of Siedlik (second), Corri Pelzer (third), Halsey Bailey (fourth) and Erin Wendt (fifth). No team score was kept for the JV races but with the individuals placing as they did, the girls would’ve had a perfect score and according to head coach Dan Vargason, the girls would’ve placed fourth in the varsity race had they been scored with them. “Anytime that you run your JV and can outscore varsity, you’re always happy with the way kids are running,” Vargason said.

They’re doing all the right things still taking care of business

— Dan Vargason

Senior Tyler Roenfeld finished first for the Trojans and second overall in the JV boys race for his last cross country race and said, “I wasn’t really nervous, just kinda sad and wanted to do my best.” Freshmen Isaac Altman, Alex Sampson and Drew Engler were next, finishing seventh, eighth and ninth, respectively. Following them was Jackson Mullin in 11th and two consecutive pairs of Atlantic runners: Ben Andersen and Caleb Spurr in 13th and 14th, and Clayton Jipsen and Alvin Nantz in 16th and 17th. Had JV been scored as a team, the boys’ would’ve won as well.

Vargason also added that oftentimes JV athletes get “overlooked by people,” and wanted to credit them for all of the hard work they put into everything they do. “They’re behind the scenes. They don’t get all the attention but they’re at practice every day, they’re at weights, they’re doing all the right things still taking care of business,” Vargason said. “It was good for our seniors to get to go out on a high note and run well in their last race.”