Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn hosted its annual HMS Cross Country Invite on September 23. The Invite was held at Sanborn Golf and Country Club.
“It was an awesome opportunity to compete at our home meet,” said Naet Hoaglund. The HMS coach was grateful for all the volunteers and for the support the runners received from the crowd. “It was really cool to see our community and students from other activities come out and support us,” said Hoaglund. “These kids work hard and compete hard, so to have the opportunity to display that hard work in front of friends and classmates was fun to see.”
Hoaglund felt the Hawks ran well and he shined the spotlight on some individuals. “We had seven personal bests across our program so our kids are continuing to get better which is great to see,” said the coach. “I’m proud of how hard we work and push ourselves to get better. I thought Damian Dodge looked the best he’s looked all year. He ran with confidence and looked really strong throughout his race. Blaine Finster also had a really good run and looked strong throughout his race as well. I was really proud of Simone (Dellavedova). He ran a personal best 22:03 and his confidence continues to grow.”
The improvement extended to the JV runners as well. “Moises (Gonzales) and Brooklyn (Erickson) ran really well for us at the JV level,” stated Hoaglund. “They both recorded their best times of the year and to start to see some of that hard work pay off is really cool to see.”
Added the coach, “We hit a tough stretch in the schedule here with a couple of meets per week so we’ll have to be mentally tough in our approach to those meets and find areas of growth in some sort of fashion.”
The HMS boys finished third behind Sioux Central and Alta-Aurelia. Individually, Aiden Bush placed 9th, Dodge 15th, Finster 20th, Ryan Grotluschen 21st, James Carlin 26th, Dellavedova 33rd and Carter Dolphin 38th.
In the girls varsity race it was Kamryn Ebel finishing 16th and Gracie Knobloch 30th.
JV results showed Erickson placing third among the girls and for the boys Karter Zimmer placing 12th and Gonzalez 18th.
Boys Varsity Team Results: Sioux Central 29, Alta-Aurelia 74, HMS 91, MMCRU 93, George-Little Rock/Central Lyon 115, Hinton 143, Trinity Christian 162.
HMS Varsity Individual Results: Aiden Bush, 9th, 19:30.44; Damian Dodge, 15th, 19:46.67; Blaine Finster, 20th, 20:57.10; Ryan Grotluschen, 21st, 21:01.29; James Carlin, 26th, 21:25.98; Simone Dellavedova, 33rd, 22:03; Carter Dolphin, 38th, 23:12.77.
HMS JV Individual Results: Karter Zimmer, 12th, 24:14.91; Moises Gonzalez, 18th, 27:29.57.
Girls Varsity Team Results: Sioux Central 36, Alta-Aurelia 36, George-Little Rock/Central Lyon 65, Hinton 95, MMCRU 134.
HMS Varsity Individual Results: Kamryn Ebel, 16th, 24:17.49; Gracie Knobloch, 30th, 29:38.28.
HMS JV Individual Results: Brooklyn Erickson, 3rd, 28:04.09.