Kee cross country teams open season at Edgewood-Colesburg, girls place third
Kee boys cross country seniors Spencer Colsch (left photo) and Evan Whalen (right photo) make their way along the course at Kee’s season-opening Edgewood-Colesburg Invitational Tuesday, August 23. Whalen led the Hawk varsity effort with his 24th-place finish in a time of 21:08, with Colsch wrapping up Kee’s varsity results with this 46th-place finish with a clocking of 26:26. Photos courtesy of the Kee High School Yearbook. View and find out how to purchase these photos and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.
Kee girls cross country sophomore Katie Brennan (left photo) and freshman Rachel Walleser (right photo) paced the Hawks’ varsity effort at the Edgewood-Colesburg Invitational to get the 2016 season underway Tuesday, August 23. Brennan ran to a sixth-place finish in the 64-runner varsity field in a time of 21:56, with Walleser finishing 15th with a clocking of 23:08. Photos courtesy of the Kee High School Yearbook. View and find out how to purchase these photos and many more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.
The Kee cross country team got its 2016 season underway in a somewhat reversal of fortune from previous seasons at the Edgewood-Colesburg Invitational held Tuesday, August 23 at Edgewood. The cross country Lady Hawks were able to put together their first team score in recent history, doing so in successful fashion with a third-place finish in the 10-team scoring field. Meanwhile, the Kee cross country boys were one varsity runner shy of being able to compile a team score in their 2016 season debut at the Edgewood-Colesburg Invitational.
“It was a good opening meet with a lot of strong competition,” Kee cross country coach Pat Wagner said of his charges’ season-opening efforts. “All of our male runners reduced their time from this meet last season. The one disappointment on the boys’ side was (sophomore) Jacob Berns being unable to compete. He sprained his ankle in Physical Education class. He had shown a lot of improvement throughout practice. Hopefully he will be back with us soon. The girls placed third in a strong ten-team field which included at least five schools who went to State last season and approximately two dozen runners who competed at State last fall. The great thing about it is we have room to grow and we have people capable of accepting that challenge. We will continue to improve and shave time.”
GIRLS VARSITY TEAM SCORES
South Winneshiek 46; Central Elkader 85; KEE 117; North Fayette Valley 122; North Cedar 122; Jesup 130; Sumner-Fredericksburg 141; Edgewood-Colesburg 176; Starmont 202; Dyersville Beckman 223
With four newcomers to the high school 5K cross country competition joining last season’s lone high school competitor, junior Nicki Wood, it was two of those newcomers to Kee’s girls cross country team who placed within the top 15 of the 64-runner varsity field at Edgewood-Colesburg. Sophomore Katie Brennan built on her fourth-place 3,000 meter finish at the Class 1A State Track Meet this past spring by leading the Hawks with her sixth-place individual finish in a time of 21:56, with freshman Rachel Walleser finishing right at that 15th-place position with a clocking of 23:08.
Wood anchored the middle of that Hawk pack with her 22nd-place finish in a time of 23:47, with a first-time high school competing pair of Makaylas rounding out Kee’s varsity team scoring. Sophomore Makayla Walleser placed 35th in a time of 24:44 and freshman Makayla Peters clocked in at 25:02 to finish 39th.
The Kee cross country boys fielded just four runners in the 47-runner varsity field at Edgewood-Colesburg, not enough to compile a team score. Senior Evan Whalen paced that Kee effort with his finish near the very edge of the meet’s top half, placing 24th out of 47 varsity runners in a time of 21:08.
The remaining trio of the Hawks’ four-runner varsity squad all finished within five places and three minutes of one another, led by junior Jack Mooney with his 42nd-place finish in a time of 23:28. Sophomore Ryan Whalen finished 44th with a clocking of 23:54, with senior Spencer Colsch rounding out that Kee varsity effort with his 46th-place finish in a time of 26:26.
The Hawks had a pair of junior varsity competitors at the meet, one each in the boys and girls races. Freshman Laura Colsch placed 41st in the 72-runner junior varsity girls field in a time of 30:18. Fellow freshman Theron Maddox finished 39th in the 40-runner junior varsity boys field with a clocking of 39:24.
The Hawks are next scheduled to compete in the MFL/MarMac Invitational Thursday, September 1. They will then take part in the Clayton Ridge Invitational at Guttenberg Tuesday, September 6.
