Wolves & Vikings compete at WIC meet
The IKM-Manning Wolves and AHSTW Vikings put on a strong performance at the Western Iowa Conference meet held at Quail Run Golf Course in Neola Monday with the Wolves finishing fourth on both the boys and girls side. The Vikings girls took a fifth place finish overall.
“This is the second time we have raced on this course this season,” said Wolves Head Coach Robert Cast. “We ran at this course on Sept. 24 earlier in the season. Almost all of our athletes improved their times and some significantly which is a great sign for this time of year.”
Seniors Raegan Garrison and Emily Albertsen both medaled for the Wolves. Garrison finished fourth overall with 20:47, while Albertsen took ninth with a time of 21:15. On the boys side, Junior Isaac Blankman finished at 18:11, which earned him a 10th place medal.
The Vikings had just five girls competing. Sophomore Bella Lamp finished a race for the first time this season after missing most of the season due to injuries.
“It was great to see Bella out there and be able to run and finish strong the last mile of the race,” said Viking Head Coach Jackson Renberg. “She has been working hard and gradually building herself back up following her injury. We had to take it slow and make sure she was healthy and ready to race, but yesterday her time was very promising and she showed how talented she is as she had a good time for not being able to race a 5k and still finishing 23rd in out tough conference.”
Junior Ava Paulsen set the tone for the Vikings finishing with 22:18. Her sister, Makenna, finished just over a minute behind her with 23:39.
“I thought she [Ava] did a great job of getting out there quick and then settling in early during her race,” Renberg said. “I believe that might be the best top 20 I have seen in our conference in a long time and she finished 14th, just missing out on All Conference. She ran a personal best which was great to see her progress since early in the season. I think she still has more in her, and we will see how she finishes out the season these last two meets.”
Emery Brockhoff finished in 31st and Yana Lander finished right behind her in 32nd with times of 24:43 and 24:46.
“Emery has battled a lot of stuff including some minor injuries and some sicknesses that wouldn’t go away,” Renberg added. “However, throughout this time she has been tough and pushed through and got a lot better. I have been excited about how she has been running the last few races and yesterday she took a bunch of time from earlier in the season at Neola. As far as Yana, she has made some huge strides as the season progresses and she has been working hard in practice to get better.”
The Vikings and Wolves return to action Saturday morning at the Logan-Mo.Valley Golf Club competing against 11 other schools.
“This meet has a lot of good runners, but it will be a good opportunity for hopefully some medals and new personal bests,” Renberg said. “We went there earlier in the season and hopefully we can show how much we have improved since the start of the season.”
