In a meet that gives an indication of the top XC teams in the area, schools from the Three Rivers Athletic Conference gathered for their annual meet on Tuesday. The event was hosted by Riverdale and held at Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island.
The Panther boys came up three points short of a conference title as they finished behind Mercer County who tallied 46 to EP’s 49. Orion was third with 70. The race included seventy-eight runners and seven full teams.
“We were game planning for them (Mercer County) all week and knew it was going to be close,” said EP coach Tom Green. As they runners began to finish the three mile course the prediction of a close team race became evident. Of the first seven finishers, EP and Mercer County accounted for six. EP going 2-4-6 and Mercer County going 3-5-7. The race came down to the four and five runners on each team with Mer Co getting the edge placing 16th and 17th with EP taking 19th and 20th.
The Panthers ran without one of their top five runners as Elijah Foster was out with an injury.
“When you put three guys in the top six spots you figure you have a pretty good shot at winning the meet,” said Green. “Our problem has been the gap between our number three and four guys. We have got to get that tightened up as we were over a minute apart again tonight. We’ve got time…we will get it done.”
Braeden Punke took top honors for the Panthers with a second place finish in 16:58, twenty-two seconds behind conference champion Alex Belha of Sherrard. Nathan Punke was fourth overall with a 17:12. Freshman, Ethan Brown was just four seconds behind his teammate placing 6th. Unfortunately for the Panthers, their fourth and fifth runners, Logan Punke and Elijah Franzen, finished just behind two Mercer County runners. Punke, a freshman, finished 19th clocking a 18:31 with Franzen wrapping up the EP scoring crossing in 20th in 18:38.
Jackson Tegeler in 27th (19:30) and Braydnne Sawyer in 35th (19:54) completed the top seven for EP.
Braeden and Nathan Punke along with Brown earned All-Conference honors finishing in the top 15.
The Panther freshmen once again showed well as Ethan Brown and Logan Punke both had PRs for EP. “They just get stronger every week,” added Green.
The Lady Panthers had a solid outing as they finished third among the seven full teams competing. The Lady Rams from Riverdale won the conference crown totaling 42 points placing their five scoring runners in the top 12. Mercer County was runner-up with 59. The Lady Panthers recorded 72 points edging out Princeton with 74 in the field of 67 runners.”We knew it was going to be a tough race with us predicted to finish third,” said coach Liz Green. “We thought second was doable but the variables are unpredictable.”
Emalyn Millar of Mercer County won the meet in a blazing 18:00, seventy-two seconds ahead of Ruby Acker of Princeton.
EP was led by sophomore, Roz Mosher who placed 9th overall in 20:54 and earned All-Conference Honors. “Roz had a great mind set heading into the race and a good game plan on the runners she wanted to beat. She was super excited in the chute after the race,” said Green.
Green was excited to see Jennica Norman have a strong race following an illness as she finished 16th in 21:35 and started a string of Panthers to cross the line. Faith Baar took 17th (21:43), Sarah Link was 18th (21:51) and freshman, Avery Heaton closed out the team scoring crossing the line in 20th (21:57). Jessie DeNeve 22nd (22:13) and Leena Hanrahan 38th (24:01) completed EP’s top seven.
“Faith Baar had a great night running a PR as did Avery Heaton,” added the coach.
Looking ahead, Liz Green agreed that the intensity of each race begins to increase. “With October here, the season starts getting faster with several big meets coming up quickly. We can start pinpointing what teams we need focus on as we head toward Regionals and Sectionals.”
The Panthers will return to the Saukie course on Saturday for the Augie Invite.
One Response
Great Job Panthers!!!!