WCA cross country: Knights start strong in Morris

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The West Central Area cross country teams kicked off their seasons in Morris on Monday in a field of both Class A and Class AA teams.

The WCA girls finished seventh out of 15 teams and the boys took eighth as a team. Freshman Abby VanKempen led the way for the ladies with a fourth-place finish in 16 minutes, 23 seconds in the 2.5 mile race.

“She had a race plan going in and fell a little bit behind of where she wanted to be,” head coach John VanKempen said. “But we were happy that she finished where she did in a field with some A and AA schools.”

The Knights persevered without the services of junior captain Kylee Fernholz to finish seventh. Freshman Hannah Frisch helped out with a 42nd place finish in 19:55. Juniors Ashton Blair (43rd, 19:58) and Katie Poyzer (62nd, 28:30) rounded out the scoring for the girls.

Junior captain Alex Toms led the boys with a sixth-place finish. He came across in 17:58, losing only to Class AA opponents from Marshall and Rocori in the 3.1-mile race. Sophomore Devin Nelson finished 26th in his inaugural varsity race, coming across in 19:59.

“Devin will improve with a few more races under his belt,” VanKempen said. “He has been a welcome addition to our team thus far.”

Junior captain Tyler Schill finished 31st in 20:14. Zach Cunningham (64th, 24:01) and JJ Drews (66th, 24:41) followed behind him.

Tags: west central area sports, cross country, sports, knights