The Iola boys and girls cross country teams repeated as Pioneer League Champions on Thursday at the league meet at Burlington.
The boys have now won their fourth straight league title while the girls won league last season.
It was a close one for the Fillies, edging out Anderson County by just four points to walk away with the gold.
Elka Billings was the leader of the pack, finishing third with a time of 21:10 while Rachel Bycroft (22:15) and Kelsey Morrison (22:43) also finished in the top 10 with sixth- and eighth-place finishes.
Madisyn Holloway (23:05) rounded out the medal winners with an 11th-place finish while Nora Gostner (23:48) was the final points earner for the Fillies, finishing 18th.
“We saw Anderson County in the early season and beat them handily,” head coach Marv Smith said. “Since then, they have had two freshmen take over their 2 and 3 spots and they both finished in the top 10. We had all we could handle and it was a great effort from start to finish to pull this off.”
For the Mustangs, their success over this past season has been a pleasant surprise for Smith and the fourth-straight title was the cherry on top.
“After we won for the third time in a row last season, we graduated our top three runners who were all in the top five spots last year at league,” Smith said. “Those three seniors had been big factors in the other two team championships as well. My thought was: ‘Oh well, that was fun while it lasted.’ Little did I think that there was a fourth win on the horizon. Only Cole Regehr and Elijah Fawson ran today from last year’s team but we added three freshmen and a first-year junior and that junior, Bret Plumlee proved to be a recipe for success.”
Plumlee came in as the number five man on the team but ended up with a seventh-place finish with a time of 18:55 which was third amongst the Iola runners.
Jack Adams (18:38) and Cole Reghr (18:47) continued to lead for the Mustangs finishing fifth and sixth while Elijah Fawson (19:16) and Nathan Louk (19:29) rounded out the points scorers for Iola.
It was a close win for the Mustangs. Iola scored 47 points with Anderson County and Burlington hot on their tail with 53 and 54 points respectively.
On the middle school side, the seventh-grade boys finished just two points out of a medal, coming in fourth.
Eli Adams led the way with a fourth-place finish with a time of 13:32 followed right behind by Kaster Trabuc (13:41) who finished fifth.
It was the eighth-grade girls who were the stars. The girls walked away with a first-place finish as a team and four of the 10 individual medals.
Josie Plumlee finished on top with a time of 14:44 while Ursula Billings finished fifth with a time of 15:16. Natalie Fees (15:24) finished sixth, Jorja Murcko (16:36) finished 10th and Emily Long (16:52) finished 11th.
The eighth-grade boys were just a runner away from earning a team score as two of the four Ponies medaled.
Brett Morrison finished eighth win a time of 13:28 while Drake Delatorre finished 10th with a time of 13:42.
The high schoolers will have the week to prepare for the regional meet at Burlington on Saturday. The girls will run at 10 a.m. while the boys will run at 10:40.
PHOTO: The boys and girls cross country teams pose after winning league. The Iola boys have won the Pioneer league four years in a row while the girls have won it two years in a row. They will compete at regionals in Burlington on Saturday. REGISTER/TIMOTHY EVERSON
