Ipswich hosts conference meet

Ipswich hosted the Lake Region Conference cross country event Wednesday, Oct. 6 at Split Rock Country Club.

The Frederick Area girls topped their 5K varsity run 13 to 20 over the runners-up from Northwestern. Meanwhile Ipswich placed third as a girls' team with its 25 team points among the six teams that were eligible for the varsity standings.

But Northwestern's Ella Boekelheide finished first in 19:10.73, topping the second-place runner Morgan Sumption of Frederick Area clocked at 19:22.21. Ipswich's top scorer that afternoon would become Ashlinn Hartwell, in sixth at 20:58.03, while Gracyn Kadlec was ninth in 21:18.21 and Madyson Gellhaus tenth in 21:24.81. Ipswich also utilized Gabrielle Wald in 14th at 23:12.96 and Katelyn Tufte was 16th in 23:42.57. There were a total of 23 entrants in this race.

Thirty-five runners heard the starting gun in the boys' varsity 5K that was won by Hunter Niederbaumer of Faulkton Area in 17:01.89 and Dillon Browning of Warner finished second in 17:14.64. The team results revealed that Northwestern was first with 16 points and Frederick Area was second with 20 team points.

The Ipswich varsity boys placed fourth as a team with their 39. Dylan Wald was 11th in 18:44.50 and their next scorer would become Taylor Thorson in 13th at 18:47.23. Next was Xavier Kadlec placing 19th in 19:31.48.

The girls' junior varsity run would be won by Frederick Area both as a team and individually. The Titans' Katie Bresch won it in 18:27.74 and her team won 7 to 14 over second-place Ipswich. (And Frederick's Chloe Akin was second individually in 19:05.47 to further improve their odds.) Ipswich was led by Ava Davis who was fourth in 19:42.41. Chloe Jager placed sixth in 21:48.10 and Hailey Usselman was eighth in 22:51.92.

Ipswich entered just two boys into their JV fray. Clayton Horst placed fourth in 17:14.16 and Tyler Gellhaus was sixth in 17:22.04. This event was individually won by Frederick Area's Jericho King in 15:53.61 and his own teammate Titus Kippley was second in 16:06.39. Obviously Frederick Area was able to top Northwestern 7 to 14 for their team bragging rights.

Meanwhile Ipswich's Aubree DeRaad placed second only to Faulkton's Austina Sorensen (11:51.80 to 11:54.99) in a close race to the finish line during their 3K middle-school girls' event. The Tigers' Bella Unser also entered for Ipswich, placing eighth in 14:46.09. (Northwestern defeated Frederick Area in the team standings 10 to 15.) And an Ipswich boy did even better in his 3K m-s run. Jace Stiles indeed won it in 11:48.95 over Leola's Jacob Kallenberger in 12:18.10. (Northwestern claimed the team title 11-11 over Leola.)

The Region 4B meet will be in Gettysburg Thursday, Oct. 14, with a 1 p.m. start time. The meet was originally scheduled for Oct. 13, but it was postponed due to the weather. The State B is then scheduled for October 23 in Sioux Falls.