CPU’s Grace Estling earns her first individual cross country title, and does it emphatically

CEDAR RAPIDS — Every time Grace Estling peers up at the wall in her high school gymnasium, the athletic accomplishments of her parents look back.

There they are, in black-and-white banners:

* Erica Cronk, Gazette Female Athlete of the Year, 1995.

* Casey Estling, Gazette Male Athlete of the Year, 1996.

Their role now?

“They’re always cheering me on,” said Estling, their daughter and a sophomore at Center Point-Urbana. “They push me to be the best I can be, but they’re proud of me, no matter what.”

There was plenty to be proud of Thursday afternoon.

Estling took the lead about a mile into the race, and ran away with the girls’ individual competition at the Eastern Iowa Classic cross country meet at Seminole Valley Park.

Her time: 19:04. Her margin of victory: 39 seconds.

“An all-time PR,” she said. “This is my favorite course. It’s so quick. It’s not too hilly. I got a little bit of a side-ache in the third mile, but my legs are fine.”

The title was Estling’s first of her career.

“It was kind of weird,” she said. “Usually, I’m running with somebody. My coach told me I had the fastest time of anybody here coming into the race. I try not to look back, but I did peek a little going around corners.”

Addison Dabroski of Marion continued her comeback from a knee injury suffered last basketball season and finished second in 19:43.

Hailey Kozloski’s third-place finish (19:45) led Linn-Mar to the girls’ team title. The Lions compiled 53 points and were followed by Marion (63).

Iowa City High had only one runner in the top 10 (Linus McRoberts was sixth), but five in the top 20 and captured the boys’ title with 66 points. Ankeny was second with 72.

Ankeny’s Ethan Zuber, the top-ranked boys’ runner in Class 4A, was the individual champion in 15:14. Slader Buckheister of Cedar Rapids Kennedy caught Iowa City West ace Moustafa Tiea late and was second in 15:32.

“I attribute a lot of it to my competition,” Buckheister said. “I was glad to stay behind a lot of guys who are faster than me; it’s what I should be doing every race. I’m starting to implement that a lot.”

You can’t compare time from course to course, but Buckheister wanted to carve some time from the last time he ran at Seminole, and he was 11 seconds faster Thursday.

“I need to keep getting better, every day,” Buckheister said.

Tiea was third in 15:34.

Girls Results

Teams — 1. Linn-Mar 53, 2. Marion 63, 3. Norwalk 82, 4. Center Point-Urbana 83, 5. Clear Creek Amana 101, 6. C.R. Kennedy 128, 7. Iowa City Regina 172.

Individuals — 1. Grace Estling (CPU), 19:04; 2. Addison Dabroski (Marion), 19:43; 3. Hailey Kozloski (LM), 19:45; 4. Olive Derocher (Norwalk), 19:52; 5. Gabby Drymon (Norwalk), 20:04; 6. Kyra Cordes (Marion), 20:09; 7. Kira Barker (CCA), 20:15; 8. Abbi Waskow (Dunkerton), 20:18; 9. Elise Moore (Marion), 20:20; 10. Anna Temple (LM), 20:37.

Boys Results

Teams — 1. Iowa City High 66, 2. Ankeny 72, 3. Norwalk 85, 4. C.R. Kennedy 96, 5. Iowa City West 129, 6. Urbandale 138, 7. Linn-Mar 144, 8. Clear Creek Amana 204, 9. Marion 301, 10. C.R. Washington 320, 11. Iowa City Regina 339.

Individuals — 1. Ethan Zuber (Ankeny), 15:14; 2. Slader Buckheister (CRK), 15:32; 3. Moustafa Tiea (ICW), 15:34; 4. Isaiah Smith (Ankeny), 15:35; 5. Teegan Kralik (Norwalk), 15:45; 6. Linus McRoberts (ICH), 15:49; 7. Sidney Shide (Urbandale), 15:52; 8. Ethan Cheney (LM), 15:52; 9. Adam Gray (CRK), 15:53; 10. Ethan Boston (LM), 15:58.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com