By RYAN STONEBRAKER
GREENFIELD, Iowa The Mount Ayr boy’s cross-country team made the trip to Greenfield last Tuesday, for the 2025 Pride of Iowa Conference meet, hosted by Nodaway Valley. The Raiders were led by three runners at the meet. Braylon Greenwell was the top Raider to finish, capturing a top-10 finish. Greenwell placed seventh in a time of 18:42 to lead Mount Ayr.
On the boy’s side, there were 46 runners in the race. Nodaway Valley’s Gabe Winkelmann won the POI title for the second year. The sophomore ran to a winning time of 17:29. His finish helped the Wolverines win the team title as well as Nodaway Valley had three other top-10 finishers. Central Decatur had a pair of top-10 finishers led by Beau Waugh with a third-place finish in 18:11. Blake Tedford was 10th in a time of 19:20.
Other Mount Ayr runners finishing were Austin Briner in 28th place with a time of 22:33 and Kellon Shaffer 43rd in 26:25.
Mount Ayr will run at the Central Decatur state qualifying cross-country meet in Leon at 4 p.m. on Thursday. Teams that are coming to town are Bedford, Diagonal, Earlham, East Union, Essex, Fremont Mills, Griswold, Hamburg, Lamoni, Lenox, Mormon Trail, Central Decatur, Pleasantville, Sidney, Southwest Valley, Stanton, Van Buren and Wayne.
The 2025 state cross-country meet for Class 1A is scheduled for Saturday, November 1 with the girls race at 2 p.m. and the boys at 2:45 p.m. at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course. The top-two teams in each division will qualify for state. Also qualifying for state will be the top-10 place winners in each division will go to state.
Ranked teams in the field at the Central Decatur state qualifying meet are, on the boys side, Earlham 5th and Van Buren 14th. On the girls side, Earlham 6th and Van Buren 8th. Other Class 1A state qualifying meet sites are AC/GC, Emmetsburg, Mason City Newman, North Linn, Pekin, South Hamilton, and Starmont.
Last Thursday the Raiders hosted a big meet with 121 runners for the annual Ron Landphair invitational. There were several POI teams at the meet and 22 total teams were represented the event. Nodaway Valley won the meet scoring 47 points and led by meet champ Gabe Winkelmann in a time of 17:43. Mount Ayr had two runners at the meet in Austin Briner placing 67th in 22:57 and Kellon Shaffer placing 89th in 25:02.
Pride of Iowa Conference Meet
Tuesday, October 14
At Greenfield
Boy’s Team Scores: 1. Nodaway Valley 26, 2 Central Decatur 66, 3. Wayne 87, 4. Martensdale-St. Marys 91, 5. Southwest Valley 111, 6. SE Warren 139. No team Scores: East Union, Mount Ayr, Lenox.
Top-10 Finishers:
1. Gabe Winkelmann (NV) 17:29, 2. Isaiah Wheeldon (MTSM) 17:53, 3. Beau Waugh (CD) 18:11, 4. Brock Driskill (East Union) 18:22, 5. Luke Kading (NV) 18:34, 6. Paul Kading (NV) 18:44, 7. Braylon Greenwell (MA) 18:52, 8. Raiden Jimenez (SEW) 19:04, 9. Cherubim Mercado (NV) 19:07, 10. Blake Tedford (CD) 19:20.
Individual team Finishes:
CENTRAL DECATUR (66): 3. Beau Waugh 18:11, 10. Blake Tedford 19:20, 16. Trevor Quigley 20:41, 21. Bryse Auxier 21:41, 27. Landon Palmer 22:19, 34. Ayden Fowlkes 23:39, 37. Macson Lindsey 24:38, 38. Francesco Lacolare 24:57.
EAST UNION (NTS): 4. Brock Driskill 18:22, 14. Cyler Wuebker 19:58, 41. Vince Schulze Wischeler 25:58.
MOUNT AYR (NTS): 7. Braylon Greenwell 18:42, 28. Austin Briner 22:33, 43. Kellon Shaffer 26:25
Ron Landphair Invitational
Thursday, October 16
At Mount Ayr
Boy’s Team Scores: 1. Nodaway Valley 47, 2. Maryville 50, 3. Ankeny Christian Academy 123, 4. Clarke 128. 5. Martensdale-St. Marys 159, 6. Wayne 172, 7. Grand View Christian 178, 8. Bedford 225, 9. Tarkio 225, 10. Southwest Valley 251, 11. Lamoni 264, 12. SE Warren 268. No Team Scores: Fremont Mills, East Union, Diagonal, Stanton, Newton-Harris, Melcher-Dallas, Essex, North Nodaway, Sidney, CAM.
Top-10 Finishers: 1. Gabe Winkelmann (NV) 17:43, 2. Jareen Dombek (M) 17:59, 3. Ryker Hackett (M) 18:14, 4. Isaiah Wheeldon (MTSM) 18:14, 5. Paul Kading (NV) 18:28, 6. Wyatt Lemonds (F-M-T) 18:31, 7. Brock Driskill (EU) 18:38, 8. Tate McDole (Lamoni) 18:39, 9. Matthew Heisterkamp (ACA) 18:40, 10. Luke Kading (NV) 18:47.
Team Scores:
EAST UNION (NTS): 7. Brock Driskill 18:38, 20. Cyler Wuebker 19:16
MOUNT AYR (NTS): 67. Austin Briner 22:57, 89. Kellon Shaffer 25:02
DIAGONAL (NTS): 25. Fred Malone 19:37, 29. Owen Whittington 19:55, 116. EJ Allee 32:37