Murphy paces Linn-Mar to invitational crown

CEDAR RAPIDS - Daniel Murphy took a page out of the Josh Evans book of class Saturday morning, shaking the hand of every runner that followed him across the finish line.

'They deserve it,” Murphy said. 'It's not an easy thing.”

Murphy would know.

A senior at Linn-Mar, Murphy captured the boys' individual title at the Prairie Invitational cross country meet on the campus of College Community Schools. He finished in a meet-record 15 minutes, 26 seconds.

He wore a broad smile as he acknowledged the rest of the field. The outcome was a far cry from the last time he competed in a cross country meet.

That was last November, when something - 'maybe dehydration, maybe a virus,” he said - struck Murphy in the late stages of the state championships. He faded from the top 10 to last place and was hospitalized.

'I've just got to put that behind me,” he said. 'I sure don't want it to happen again.”

Saturday, he was the class of the field, pulling away from Prairie's Tysen VanDraska in the final mile to win by 11 seconds.

'Tysen kept nipping at my heels,” Murphy said. 'I know what kind of speed he has. I can't compete with that, so I had to work hard to get some distance.”

Dalton Gosch and Ryan Murphy were fourth and fifth, and the Lions won the individual title with 42 points, followed by Iowa City West (69), Waukee (82) and Class 4A top-ranked Prairie (101).

Evans was an individual state champion last year before moving on to Iowa State. He made a habit of greeting his competitors postrace. Saturday, it was Murphy's turn.

'It's pretty sad he's gone,” Murphy said of Evans. 'He was a great training partner. But I like this team.”

Waukee claimed the girls title behind individual champion Rachel Brush. The Warriors scored 52 points to outperform West (65). Linn-Mar (108) was third.

Brush set a meet record of her own, in 14:54. West's Emmie Skopec was the runner-up in 15:05.

'That's about where I wanted to be,” Skopec said. 'The last mile, (Brush) put in a surge. I kept trying to work back up to her. It's a long season. I hope by the end of the season, I'm able to keep up with her.”

Like Murphy, Skopec's role has changed with the graduation of an elite runner - in her case, Ashlynn Yokom.

'Coach (Mike Parker) told me I need to set the pace,” she said.

Linn-Mar's Amber Decker was fourth.

BOYS' CROSS COUNTRY: PRAIRIE INVITATIONAL

Teams (overall) - 1. Linn-Mar 42, 2. Iowa City West 69, 3. Waukee 82, 4. C.R. Prairie 101, 5. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 163, 6. Pella 182, 7. C.R. Washington 199, 8. C.R. Kennedy 210, 9. Monticello 221, 10. Marion 238, 11. Mason City 272, 12. C.R. Xavier 320, 13. Fort Madison 379, 14. Cascade 398, 15. Solon 426, 16. Maquoketa 446, 17. Davenport West 539.

Individuals - 1. Daniel Murphy (LM), 15:26; 2. Tysen VanDraska (CRP), 15:37; 3. Akash Borde (ICW), 15:44; 4. Dalton Gosch (LM), 15:48; 5. Ryan Murphy (LM), 15:55; 6. Nick Feeley (ICW), 15:58; 7. Isaiah Hanna (Waukee), 15:59; 8. Jake Moore (CRP), 16:00; 9. Kevin Kato (Waukee), 16:02; 10. Preston Kauder (Casc), 16:05.

Linn-Mar - 1. D.Murphy, 4. Gosch, 5. R.Murphy, 14. Bryan Fogerty, 16:13; 18. Jay Halverson, 16:20.

I.C. West - 3. Borde, 6. Feeley, 16. Adam Weis, 16:16; 17. Abdullah Ali, 16:19; 27. Matthew Schneider, 16:39.

Prairie - 2. VanDraska, 8. Moore, 11. Zack Fiser, 16:06; 34. Chris Oehlert, 16:48; 46. Levi Lefebure, 17:10.

Washington - 13. Finbar Berry, 16:12; 25. Sam Eck, 16:27; 36. Sam Werner, 16:58; 62. Ryan Miller, 17:37; 63. Wyatt Forster, 17:38.

Kennedy - 38. Reece Linder, 16:59; 40. Andrew Solsrud, 17:00; 41. Tim Zange, 17:00; 43. Addison Furry, 17:03; 48. Derek Girling, 17:13.

Marion - 12. Colton Forster, 16:11; 47. Jeremy Fopma, 17:11; 51. Hunter Reifschneider, 17:17; 54. Austin Yirkovsky, 17:19; 64. Myles Bach, 17:40.

Xavier - 29. Steven Culpepper, 16:41; 37. Jonathan Francois, 16:59; 79. Sam Rohret, 18:30; 87. Jonah Scallon, 18:40; 88. John Pape, 18:41.

Black Division - 1. Linn-Mar 37, 2. Iowa City West 56, 3. Waukee 67, 4. C.R. Prairie 75, 5. C.R. Washington 136, 6. C.R. Kennedy 143, 7. Mason City 177, 8. Davenport West 255.

Orange Division - 1. Pella 30, 2. Marion 40, 3. C.R. Xavier 86, 4. Fort Madison 104, 5. Solon 130, 6. Maquoketa 147.

Gold Division - 1. Mount Cernon-Lisbon 29, 2. Monticello 36, 3. Cascade 65.

GIRLS' CROSS COUNTRY: PRAIRIE INVITATIONAL

Teams (overall) - 1. Waukee 52, 2. Iowa City West 65, 3. Linn-Mar 108, 4. Cedar Falls 152, 5. Fort Madison 187, 6. Pella 193, 7. Monticello 203, 8. Southeast Polk 222, 9. Cascade 243, 10. C.R. Kennedy 276, 11. Solon 316, 12. Marion 318, 13. C.R. Prairie 321, 14. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 332, 15. C.R. Xavier 357, 16. Anamosa 372, 17. C.R. Washington 440, 18. Davenport West 469.

Individuals - 1. Rachel Brush (Waukee), 14:54; 2. Emmie Skopec (ICW), 15:05; 3. Erika Lewis (Waukee), 15:24; 4. Amber Decker (LM), 15:29; 5. Kelcey Blommers (Pella), 15:34; 6. Tess Roorda (Pella), 15:34; 7. Maddie Saville (LM), 15:35; 8. Bailey Nock (ICW), 15:35; 9. Sarah Steffensmeier (FM), 15:42; 10. Becca McDermott (Casc), 15:42.

I.C. West - 2. E.Skopec, 8. Nock, 12. Maria Burtch, 15:47; 16. Gabby Skopec, 15:58; 27. Tia Saunders, 16:18.

Linn-Mar - 4. Decker, 7. M.Saville, 18. Deanna Newhouse, 16:01; 37. Sydney Johnston, 16:33; 42. Hanna Saville, 16:52.

Kennedy - 13. Lauren Meyer, 15:48; 41. Hannah Fusselman, 16:48; 55. Laura Feld, 17:10; 79. Alli Meyer, 17:44; 88. Jenna Averhoff, 18:06.

Marion - 17. Madison Bach, 15:59; 60. Sam Livingston, 17:15; 68. Andrea Ertz, 17:24; 77. Skylar Dede, 17:42; 96. Ellie Conzett, 18:22.

Prairie - 34. Cayla Renwick, 16:30; 53. Sarah Meyers, 17:02; 58. Victoria Enyart, 17:13; 83. Eilish Stanek, 17:52; 93. Sophia Smith, 18:19.

Xavier - 54. Jenny Dickes, 17:05; 59. Emiko Coffey, 17:14; 72. Maddy Bailey, 17:32; 74. Kiana Stanek, 17:38; 98. Sydney Oakley, 18:26.

Washington - 56. Serena Eck, 17:10; 76. Joi Johnson, 17:41; 94. Sierra Sheets, 18:21; 99. Ashley Hageman, 18:28; 115. Emma Witt, 20:18.

Black Division - 1. Waukee 37, 2. Iowa City West 45, 3. Linn-Mar 74, 4. Cedar Falls 97, 5. Southeast Polk 132, 6. C.R. Kennedy 157, 7. C.R. Prairie 183, 8. C.R. Washington 233, 9. Davenport West 239.

Orange Division - 1. Fort Madison 36, 2. Pella 53, 3. Solon 78, 4. Marion 82, 5. C.R. Xavier 90.

Gold Division - 1. Monticello 36, 2. Cascade 48, 3. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 66, 4. Anamosa 76.

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