The meet was held at the middle school in Walnut.
The Lady Panthers took on a seventeen team field with Elmwood winning the meet scoring an impressive 42 points with their five scoring runners placing in the top 12. TRAC rival Mercer County finished second with 94 points out pacing EP by 42 points.
The Lady Panthers had just over a one minute spread between their scoring runners.
Sophomore, Roz Mosher bounced back from an off day at Peoria to finish first for the Panthers crossing the line in 21st place in 21:46, just three seconds ahead of senior, Jessie DeNeve, who is having an outstanding senior season, placing 22nd. Sarah Link also looked as if she is getting back into peak form as she placed 26th in 22:16. Faith Baar stepped up to finish fourth for EP placing 37th overall with a 22:50 clocking, just one second ahead of freshman, Avery Heaton who rounded out the Lady Panther scoring in 39th position. Leena Hanrahan was 55th in 23:40 and Alana Little took 96th to complete the Panthers’ top seven.
EP coach Liz Green saw important improvement among several of her top runners. “After some rough races to start with, we were happy to see Roz (Mosher) running fabulous today. She ran great splits even in the rain and slippery mud. She had a much better week at practice. Jessie (DeNeve) looked good too throughout the race today. Sarah Link is figuring out her best strategies for finishing strong and we are so happy she is getting to compete. Faith (Baar) and Avery (Heaton) held steady. Alana (Little) and Taylor (Robshaw) pushed through as well even through the mud and slippery course- staying upright. As much as the girls were dreading the race, they ran really well.”
Elmwood won the boys’ side of the invitational with an eye popping 37 points, well ahead of Rockford Lutheran collecting 98 points. East Dubuque was third with 122. The Panther boys finished with 192 points to place 6th among twenty-two teams.
EP was led by Braeden Punke who placed 12th in a time of 17:00. Brother, Nathan was 23 seconds behind, claiming 17th place. Ethan Brown continued his consistency as the freshman finished third for the Panthers crossing in 59th place with a time of 18:35. EP’s fourth runner was Elijah Franzen taking 68th in 18:53 and was followed by the third Punke brother, Logan clocking a 19:00 run to close out the Panther scoring in 71st. Jackson Tegeler 86th (19:27) and Braydnne Sawyer 130th (21:05) completed EP’s top seven.
Panther coach Tom Green said his squad is improving each race, “The boys ran amazingly well today despite the pouring rain and treacherous course conditions. We’ve been doing a lot of mental toughness conditioning so today’s conditions were relished by our guys.”
“Braedon Punke really cemented himself as one of the guys to beat at the upcoming conference meet in less than two weeks,” said Green. “His older brother Nathan showed his veteran racing prowess by overtaking about 13 runners in the final 800 meters. The youngest Punke brother, Logan, continues his hot hand by finishing in our top 5 again. Jackson Tegeler re-entered the varsity top 7 this week coming in at our number 6 spot.”
“Chase Yount is still working his way back to his full form from a year ago,” said Green. “His medal winning performance today should hopefully launch him back to that varsity level.”
Green says his group is still on track to make people take notice in the coming weeks. “While we still have a long way to go to get where we plan to be by the post-season, today showed our guys all across the lineup have the grit and toughness to outrace most of the top teams in the area, especially under less than ideal conditions. In particular, every guy in that varsity race finished super strong and we could not be more pleased.”
Complete Dale Donner Invite Results
