CPU’s Yeager beats the big-school boys

CEDAR RAPIDS - The word came down around 8 p.m. Tuesday, not long after the Tipton Invitational cross country meet was cut short due to storms.

Center Point-Urbana was coming to Noelridge Park.

'At first, when I found out, it was like, ‘Holy cow,'” said senior Josh Yeager. 'It just came out of the blue.”

Yeager claimed the boys' individual title Thursday at the Cedar Rapids Invitational, leaving a slew of Class 4A boys in his wake. He pulled away from Linn-Mar ace Daniel Murphy in the final mile, winning it in 15 minutes, 35 seconds.

'I didn't really know what to do at the beginning. I've never been in a race this big, other than the state meet,” Yeager said. 'I wanted to go out with the leaders, then push hard at the 2-mile mark.

'I knew I had a shot. I'd seen the times the other guys here had run. I was hoping to come out and be in the mix, if not win it.”

Murphy's runner-up finish (in 15:42) staked Class 4A second-ranked Linn-Mar to a convincing win in the boys' team race. The Lions accumulated 45 points, followed by Iowa City West (80) and defending state champion Cedar Rapids Prairie (84).

'This gives us a lot of confidence that we're back up there,” Murphy said. 'All of the guys have been stepping up and performing really well.”

Murphy's sophomore brother, Ryan, was fourth in 15:57. Dalton Gosch, Bryan Fogerty and Jay Halverson were 11th, 13th and 15th, respectively.

Though they don't cross paths often, Murphy was aware of Yeager's talent.

'I knew he was a good racer,” he said. 'I wanted to keep close, but every time I did, he just kept going.”

Tysen VanDraska and Jake Moore were third and sixth for Prairie.

Ames, Iowa City West and Pleasant Valley are ranked 1-2-3 in the Class 4A girls' rankings, and ran to form. The Little Cyclones scored 55 points, followed by the Women of Troy (66) and PV (85).

'We were excited to go up against (Ames),” said West senior Emmie Skopec. 'Today was a gauge of today, and we're excited to be that close to them. But we're training for Nov. 1 (the date of the state meet).”

Defending state champion McKenzie Yanek of Pleasant Valley ran away with top individual girls' honors, running in 14:00.

Skopec (14:28) was the top area finisher at fourth; Amber Decker of Linn-Mar was fifth in 14:38.

'I'm happy with my race, but not satisfied,” Skopec said. 'I wish my last 400 would have been a little stronger.”

CEDAR RAPIDS INVITATIONAL CROSS COUNTRY MEET

At Noelridge Park

GIRLS RESULTS

Teams - 1. Ames 55, 2. Iowa City West 66, 3. Pleasant Valley 85, 4. Linn-Mar 93, 5. Muscatine 120, 6. Bettendorf 138, 7. Iowa City High 141, 8. C.R. Prairie 250, 9. C.R. Kennedy 259, 10. Dubuque Wahlert 302, 11. Marion 325, 12. North Scott 377, 13. C.R. Washington 393, 14. C.R. Xavier 396, 15. Davenport Central 423, 16. Center Point-Urbana 481, 17. Davenport West 483, 18. Waterloo West 540.

Individuals - 1. McKenzie Yanek (PV), 14:00; 2. Payton Boylston (Ames), 14:24; 3. Brina Kraft (Musc), 14:26; 4. Emmie Skopec (ICW), 14:48; 5. Amber Decker (LM), 14:38; 6. Caroline Marnin (Ames), 14:42; 7. Mary Arch (ICH), 14:43; 8. Bailey Nock (ICW), 14:48; 9. Katelyn Moore (Ames), 15:01; 10. Maddie Saville (LM), 15:00.

I.C. West - 4. E.Skopec, 8. Nock, 11. Olivia Moore, 15:01; 18. Maria Burtch, 15:09; 24. Maddie Case, 15:17.

Linn-Mar - 5. Decker, 10. M.Saville, 21. Morgan Garcia, 15:14; 27. Maddie Mann, 15:23; 30. Deanna Newhouse, 15:26.

City High - 7. Arch, 15. Molly Shepherd, 15:05; 31. Maddy Deninger, 15:27; 42. Emily Bywater, 15:45; 48. Celeste Chadwick, 15:59.

Prairie - 44. Hannah Frazee, 15:49; 45. Alissa Neubauer, 15:52; 52. Kirstin Skriver, 16:08; 55. Eilish Stanek, 16:11; 62. Sarah Meyers, 16:25.

Kennedy - 20. Lauren Meyer, 15:11; 36. Hannah Fusselman, 15:37; 59. Laura Feld, 16:17; 74. Emily Manders, 16:48; 76. Kate Nus, 16:50.

Marion - 34. Madison Bach, 15:36; 57. Sam Livingston, 16:13; 73. Andrea Ertz, 16:47; 81. Sydney Brase, 16:53; 89. Skylar Dede, 17:03.

Washington - 38. Sarah Altemeier, 15:42; 75. Serena Eck, 16:49; 90. Joi Johnson, 17:04; 100. Sierra Sheets, 17:32; 101. Brett Visser, 17:38.

Xavier - 51. Emiko Coffey, 16:07; 80. Maddy Bailey, 16:53; 88. Kiana Stanek, 17:02; 94. Sydney Oakley, 17:12; 96. Faith Satern, 17:26.

Jefferson - 39. Sarah Hanna, 15:43; 50. Megan Ely, 16:05; 82. Caleigh Meyer, 16:54; 111. Jasmine Blue, 18:10; 113. Brianne Settlage, 18:14.

BOYS RESULTS

Teams - 1. Linn-Mar 45, 2. Iowa City West 80, 3. C.R. Prairie 84. 4. Iowa City High 178, 5. C.R. Washington 198, 6. Dubuque Wahlert 199, 7. Marion 227, 8. Bettendorf 229, 9. Center Point-Urbana 237, 10. C.R. Kennedy 243, 11. Ames 271, 12. Pleasant Valley 312, 13. North Scott 337, 14. Muscatine 342, 15. C.R. Xavier 355, 16. Davenport Central 361, 17. C.R. Jefferson 464, 18. Waterloo West 465.

Individuals - 1. Josh Yeager (CPU), 15:35; 2. Daniel Murphy (LM), 15:42; 3. Tysen VanDraska (CRP), 15:54; 4. Ryan Murphy (LM), 15:57; 5. Akash Borde (ICW), 16:06; 6. Jake Moore (CRP), 16:10; 7. Daniel Chan (Ames), 16:15; 8. Nick Feeley (ICW), 16:16; 9. Brandon Cooley (Bett), 16:18; 10. Colton Forster (Marion), 16:18.

Linn-Mar - 2. D.Murphy, 4. R.Murphy, 11. Dalton Gosch (LM), 16:21; 13. Bryan Fogerty, 16:22; 15. Jay Halverson, 16:29.

I.C. West - 5. Borde, 8. Feeley, 14. Adam Weis, 16:29; 19. Abdallah Ali, 16:34; 34. Matthew Schneider, 16:54.

Prairie - 3. VanDraska, 6. Moore, 20. Matt Lorenz, 16:35; 24. Chris Oehlert, 16:38; 31. Zack Fiser, 16:46; 35. Cam Steffens, 16:55.

City High - 12. Matthew Dodge, 16:22; 21. Joel Bender, 16:36; 38. Michael Berg, 16:56; 50. Jarrett Purdy, 17:07; 57. Tom McDowell, 17:16.

Washington - 18. Sam Eck, 16:32; 27. Finbar Berry, 16:41; 45. Sam Werner, 17:02; 53. Ryan Miller, 17:10; 55. Ian Hoover-Grinde, 17:14.

Marion - 10. Forster, 39. Myles Bach, 16:57; 41. Jeremy Fopma, 16:58; 66. Austin Yirkovsky, 17:24; 71. Hunter Reifschneider, 17:35.

Kennedy - 28. Addison Furry, 16:43; 43. Andrew Solsrud, 16:59; 54. Tim Zange, 17:12; 58. Derek Girling, 17:18; 60. Reece Linder, 17:19.

Xavier - 22. Steven Culpepper, 16:36; 65. Jonathan Francois, 17:23; 70. Nick Koechner, 17:34; 98. Nolan Pithan, 18:22; 100. Evan Gradoville, 18:25.

Jefferson - 82. Trey Hitchings, 17:59; 84. Nate Homan, 18:00; 92. Jason Chung, 18:15; 101. Christopher Haring, 18:26; 105. Kane Kramer, 18:39.

l Comments: (319) 368-8857; jeff.linder@thegazette.com