The 21st edition of the Leon Fox Invitational was held at the Perry Golf and Country Club Thursday, with a field of 10 teams competing. Coed races were held at the varsity and middle school level.
Winterset won the boys race with 30 points, winning a tiebreaker against Des Moines Christian by having their sixth runner (14th) faster than the sixth Lion (18th) to cross. Ballard (79) was third and Bondurant-Farrar (126) fourth, with Greene County (159), Boone (176), Perry (206), DM North (220), Roland-Story (236), and Saydel (246) completing the field.
Ballard edged ADM, 36-37, for the girls team victory. DMC (63) was third, Bondurant-Farrar (135) fourth, and Winterset (136) fifth, with Roland-Story (161), Perry (211), Saydel (242), Greene County (246) and DM North (279) also in action.
Aaron Fynaardt (DMC) was the boys winner in 16 minutes, 9 seconds, with teammate Mason Back second in 16:35.
Yonas Andemichael earned a medal by finishing 12th, in 17:37, to lead Perry. Also scoring for the Bluejays were Thad Stewart (33rd, 19:19), Owen Myers (49th, 20:25), Jonathan Chavez (53rd, 20:33), and Gannon Meis (59th, 21:19). Bryce Anliker (60th, 21:28) and Aiden Carlson (65th, 22:48) ran for Perry as well.
The hosts also had eight other entrants in the 145-runner boys field. Mason Hoffman (23:19), Kyeo Augustine (23:34), Renzo Saenz (24:25), Carlos Ruiz-Aragon (25:02), Osvaldo Vazquez (25:30), Kyle Hernandez (27:10), Isaac Ballard (27:35), and Angel Rodriguez (28:01) raced the home course for the Jays.
Ballard’s Paitlyn Noe won the girls varsity race in 17:43, with ADM’s Geneva Timmerman second in 18:42.
Taryn Nehring was the first Jayette to finish, crossing in 23:01, with Julie Maylum second for Perry at 24:05, the duo placing 29th and 41st, respectively.
Amy Diaz (44th, 24:13), Mylah Meis (46th, 24:25) and Natalie Castillo (51st, 25:32) also scored for the varsity, with Mercedes Ponce (54th, 26:26) competing as well.
Unlike the boys team, there was no large group of Perry girls to round out the varsity race, which featured 108 total harriers.
ADM won the two-mile boys middle school race with 35. Bondurant-Farrar (94) was second and Perry (188) ninth of 10. The field had 127 runners.
Thomas Clark-Obbink collected a medal after finishing fifth overall for Perry in 12:27. George Krohn (30th, 13:47), Gavin Leslie (39th, 14:37), Edwyrd Stell (56th, 15:31) and Ivan Willett (58th, 15:32) scored for Perry.
Also on the course were Diego Diaz-Cardenas (64th, 16:06), Jerson Ramirez (69th, 17:15) and Sebastian Oliver (22:14).
ADM won the 109-harrier girls middle school race with 32 points. Ballard placed second at 74, with Perry seventh of nine with 162 points.
Earning a medal after crossing fifth overall for the Jayettes was Lily Myers (13:48). Points also came from Harper Peterson (19th, 15:12), Ellie Hughes (34th, 16:12), Peyton Pierchbacher (51st, 17:36), and Fiorella Oliver (53rd, 18:14).
Aleah Karolus (54th, 18:17), Cali Hernandez (60th, 20:33), Haley Nelson (20:50), Jadelyn Hoffman (20:56), Sofia Saenz (27:48) and Selene Ayala (27:50) also competed for Perry.
Perry resumes competition Thursday at the Saydel Invitational.
