(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) Le Mars' Kristen Ahlers races her way to an 11th place finish in 16:40 at the West Sioux Invite Thursday in Hawarden. [Click to enlarge]

Le Mars' Gage Sitzmann made his cross country debut on Thursday at West Sioux and, with a first place finish, instantly makes the Bulldogs strong contenders heading into the Lakes Conference meet at Hull on Monday.

Le Mars was second overall in the Class A division with 56 points as they were edged out by Sioux City Heelan who won the meet with 42 points.

"This was the highest placing since I've been here, which is about four years. It was just really good overall," said coach Al Engebretson. "They're running well and I think we'll have a good conference meet. Our goal is to have as many guys as we can finish in the top-15 to make all-conference. Overall, I think we have a good shot at finishing in the top three."

(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) Le Mars' Gage Sitzmann works to gain a lead on the pack at Thursday's West Sioux Invite. The senior runner took first place in the race. [Click to enlarge]

Sitzmann was the only runner in the boys' division to crack the 17-minute mark as he cruised to the top finish with a 16:52 time. The Bulldogs had two other runners finish in the top-10 as Chris Clay and Alex Rasmussen finished sixth and eighth place, respectively.

"It was a good debut for Gage," said Engebretson. "He was pretty much in control. He ran with (Nate McKewon) of Heelan for the first part of the race but then separated himself. He's been working hard and we've been giving him a lot of miles in practice. It'll be an interesting race come Monday."

Clay narrowly missed out on placing in the top five as he came in at 17:31 for sixth place. Rasmussen was eighth overall after crossing the finish line at 17:42.

(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) Gehlen's Kaitlin Roberts raced to a ninth place finish in Class A with a time of 17:55 at West Sioux. [Click to enlarge]

Freshman Joe Herzberg medaled after placing 14th with a 18:08 time. Ivan Theisen was 29th after crossing the finish line at 20:02. Ben Bauman was the last runner for the Bulldogs with his 20:28 time, good enough for 33rd place.

The Lady Bulldogs also had a successful night as they finished third with 64 points behind Sioux City East and Sioux City Heelan. East, ranked 13th in Class 4A finished with 30 points while Heelan, 14th in Class 3A, was second with 58 points.

Maddie Theisen finished second place after holding her own against some of the top runners in the area. The junior finished the race in 15:06, finishing just behind Shelby Houlihan of Sioux City East, who is ranked third in Class 4A. Theisen edged out Houlihan's teammate, Ellen Dougherty, who is ranked fifth in Class 4A.

(Sentinel photo by Roy Tucker) Gehlen's Robert Ciaffa was the third Jay to finish in the top 10, crossing ninth in 20:14. [Click to enlarge]

The next three finishers for Le Mars had personal records on the night, starting with Kristen Ahlers' 16:40. Ahlers was 11th overall with her time. Andrea Kelly - 16:56 - and Becca Clay - 16:57 - joined Ahlers in breaking the 17-minute mark for the first time.

Kelly was 14th while Clay was one spot behind in 15th.

Also setting a personal record was Catie Meis who had a 22nd place finish with a 17:26 final time.

Jess Kelly and Hannah Steen rounded out the scoring for the Lady Bulldogs with their 28th and 30th places, respectively. Kelly completed the course in 18:43 and Steen had a 19:10 time as the team continued to improve as they averaged a 16:37 time as a team in the meet.

"It was another amazing night for Le Mars girls' cross country!" said coach Amy Kelly. "Kristen, Andrea and Becca gained a big personal goal by breaking 17-minutes. I'm so excited about how the girls are performing. They have taken off times all season and continued with some big gains tonight. The team is experiencing success and is headed for great things."

The Gehlen Jays, competing in the Class B division, were once again led by Jordan Freking who placed second with a 17:37 time to pace the Jays to a second place finish with 36 points. Gehlen placed second after losing out on a tiebreaker that came down to the sixth runner which the Jays did not have on their roster due to injuries.

Josh Hodgson also posted a top five finish with his 18:55 time while Matt Mayer had his personal best placing with a seventh place finish. Mayer completed the course in 19:55.

Robert Ciaffa gave Gehlen their last top-10 finish with a 20:14 finish as he was ninth. Teammate Linden Shoup was 27th with his final time of 36:22.

Rachel Koopman had a tremendous night for the girls' team after edging out teammate Kaitlin Roberts for eighth place with a 17:47 finish. Roberts was ninth with her 17:55 time.

Mary Henrich beat her former personal best by almost a minute on her way to finishing 13th which gave her a medal at the meet. Henrich had an official time of 18:33.

Sana Naqvi bested the 20-minute mark by two seconds with her 19:58, good enough for 16th place overall. Lindsay Berkenpas and Ellin Lee finished 19th and 20th and after completing the course in 20:44 and 20:52, respectively.

The Lady Jays were third overall with 63 points.

"We're hoping to have some numbers back for conference. Our guys were consistent in their performance. In Class B, we're sitting really well and would be even stronger with our injured runners with us," said Gehlen's Teresa Taylor. "However, those who are healthy are carrying us well. Four of our top five runners were in the top-10 which is exciting to see."

"Our ladies also had an exciting day with many of them breaking personal records," she continued. "Mary Henrich had an outstanding day with a time that shattered her best one so far by a minute as well as a medal in the top-15."

The Lady Bulldogs JV team also ran at West Sioux and had two top-10 finishers in Jenna Prieksat and Katharine Robotham. Prieksat was seventh overall with her 18:11 time - a personal record - while Robotham also set a personal record with her 18:18 finish, placing eighth. Yazmin Morales missed out on the top-10 with her 11th place finish after running the course in 18:22, also a personal record.

Sam Prieksat set a new PR with her 18:44 finish and Bree Engebretson was right behind her with a 19:45 time. Hillary Haden - 19:55 - and Lindsey Wichers - 20:34 - also set personal records at the meet.

The JV girls' race ran last and all of the official placings were not immediately available at the time of deadline.

The Bulldog boys' JV team finished sixth overall with Austin Homan leading the way with a ninth place finish. Homan had an official time of 19:42.

Zach Nemmers had a 22nd place finish after running the course in 21:30. Nathan Young came in at 22:19 to place 35th to edge out teammate Tim Burwitz who had a 36th place after coming in at 22:28.

Freshman Nick Manthe ran the race in 22:32, good enough for 38th. Michael Brandenburg was 58th with a 25:12 time and Luke Bendlin was 67th finishing in 30:32.

In the middle school race, the Lady Bulldogs' Mickie Theisen was third with a 11:03 time as the team placed five in the top-five. Marissa Allaway was fourth finishing in 11:05 while Jordan Helms was sixth after crossing the finish line in 11:09.

In 11:18, Kelsey Clay crossed the finish line to place eighth and Cassie Schlumbaum was ninth with a 11:20 official time.

Rodrigo Cobian was fifth to lead the Bulldog boys' JV team after running the shortened course in 9:51. Jacob Peters had a ninth place finish after completing the race in 10:13, edging out Zach Kooistra by two seconds. Kooistra was ninth overall.

Brendan Harms and Chris Gorzynski were 19th and 22nd overall with 11:03 and 11:42 finishes, respectively. Matt Wells had a 11:44 finish to end up in 23rd. Joel Haden was 25th with a 12:17 time and Luke Tabbert came in at 12:44 to get 26th overall.

Gehlen's Alli Sitzmann had a 10:39 time for the Lady Jays' only competitor. The Jays also had Andrew Lipp compete and he ran the course in 10:28.

Paige Deardoff, a fifth-grader at Gehlen, ran a 'fun run,' one mile course and finished in 6:36.

This was the final competition for the middle school division.

Both schools will be in competition on Monday as the Le Mars squads will compete at Hull for the Lakes Conference meet and Gehlen will travel to Marcus for War Eagle Conference competition.

Kingsley-Pierson was also in action but their results were not available at the time of deadline.