HOA League XC Meet: Bennington girls take first, boys second
The best cross country runners in the Heart of America League took center stage before regionals this week
Nicholas Martisko won the second HOA title of his career last Thursday. Martisko, a senior, also won league as a sophomore. (Photo by Gallagher Martin)
HUTCHINSON — The Bennington High School girls cross country team is out to prove they are the best team in 2A. After taking third at state last year, the Bulldogs are currently ranked No. 1 in the coaches poll.
The Bulldogs began their postseason at Thursday’s Heart of America League Cross Country Meet hosted by Trinity Catholic.
Bennington took first as a team with three top-five finishes, four top-10 finishes, and seven top-15 finishes.
Ashlyn Harbaugh, who finished fifth at state last season as a freshman, won the race with a time of 20:47.8.
Runner-up Brooke Wiebe of Berean Academy was second with a time of 21:35.8. Wiebe, a senior, finished sixth in 1A last year.
Marion’s Heidi Grimmett was third with a time of 21:51.2; she was the only one from her school to finish in the top 40.
Bennington’s Chloe Stanley and Peyton Piepho were two of the next three finishers. Auston Carr (11th), Adelia Janssen (14th), Taryn Paulino (15th), and Jeannie George (16th) all finished in the top 20 for the Bulldogs.
Remington finished second as a team and had a good outing as well. Sophomore Lucy Brown and junior Audrey Van Zelfden finished fifth and eighth respectively.
Bennington was a distant second in the boys race behind the No. 2 team in 1A, Berean Academy. Bennington featured Nate Ohlson (11th, 19:35.4) and Dayton Rindt (12th, 19:40.3), but could not keep up with Berean Academy’s lineup.
The Warriors had four runners finish in the top 10, including fourth, fifth, and sixth place. Drew Janzen, Gavin Tucker, and Eli Nord all finished within 15 seconds of each other.
Trey Topham finished eighth with a time of 19:23.7 for Berean Academy. Outside of Nord who is a sophomore, all of Berean’s top-10 finishers are juniors. The Warriors finished fifth in 1A last year.
Inman’s Nicholas Martisko won the HOA League Meet for the second time in his career with a time of 17:29.8. Martisko, a senior, has medaled at the league meet all four years, including his sophomore year when he took first.
Martisko is having a bounce-back year. After taking fifth at state as a sophomore, Martisko fell to 38th his junior year.
According to Inman head coach Jay Parsons, Martisko and second-place finisher Ashter Brown of Remington were side by side until the last half mile when Martisko was able to create seperation.
Next action for teams in the HOA will be the regional meet to qualify for state. In 1A, there are three regionals with the potential for four teams to qualify per regional. In 2A, there are four regionals with three teams able to qualify per regional.
The top-10 runners will qualify for state individually.