Betts and Heslink Win Conference Meet; Panthers Win Boys & Cyclones Win Girls Team; Complete Results

(Atlantic, IA) — Mason Betts became the first Atlantic runner to win a conference cross country championship since 2020 as he won by 9 seconds over Aiden Gaul of St. Albert at Atlantic High School on Friday morning. The conditions were not great — overcast, cold, windy and the grass was a little wet in some spots but not as much as you would think after Thursday’s rains. Betts was pushed by Gaul most of the race until the final third when he had a lot left in the tank to push away. Betts ran a time of 16:43.6 while Gaul ran at 16:52.4.

Ryder Baird of Creston was in third place at 16:55.7 and led the Panthers to the team title with 51 points with Kuemper Catholic in 2nd with 75 points. Denison Schleswig was 3rd with 85; St. Albert 4th at 86; Harlan 5th at 101; Atlantic 6th at 112; and Clarinda 7th at 186. Glenwood did not participate in the meet because of Homecoming festivities.

Kevin Sanchez was 7th for Denison Schleswig; Erik Heslink 8th for Harlan; KC had runners 11th through 13th with Wyatt Wunschel, Jayden Gach and Hayden Krieger. There were 53 total boys runners.

Atlantic Boys Runners

On the girls side, Julia Heslink of Harlan beat teammate Ashlyn Rau by 3 seconds — Heslink with a 19:54.7 and Rau with a 19:57.6. Reese Strunk of Creston was 3rd (20:35.6); Taylor Heithoff of Kuemper Catholic 4th (20:38.1) and Ali Hannan of St. Albert 5th (20:49.3).

Harlan won the team title with 40 points with Atlantic in 2nd place at 56. Creston 3rd with 66, D-S 4th 93, St. Albert 5th 110, and Kuemper Catholic 6th with 139.

Aspen Bieker of the Cyclones finished 8th and Sadie Alberti was 13th.

Kaitlyn Hickman of Atlantic finished in 6th place; Gabrielle Engler was 7th and Lucy Northwick got in the top ten in 9th.

Atlantic Girls Runners