East Buchanan girls' XC: Table for 2

WINTHROP - Shelbie Beatty and Danielle Schweitzer run better than they recruit.“We've tried,” Schweitzer said of their futile quest to roust some schoolmates and form a complete girls' cross country team at East Buchanan. “But we haven't succeeded.”It's a shame, because very few small-school squads in Iowa would be able to match the Buccaneers' frontrunning duo.Instead, Beatty and Schweitzer head to Arlington, site of today's Class 1A regional meet, focused merely on themselves.Chances are excellent that both will qualify for the state meet - Oct. 31 at Lakeside Golf Course near Fort Dodge.Beatty (a senior) and Schweitzer (a freshman) have won two individual titles apiece this season. They are ranked fourth and fifth in the latest Iowa Association of Track Coaches 1A individual ratings.“They both great, great runners,” said Bucs Coach Pat Schloss. “It's beautiful to watch them run.”Beatty, who edged Schweitzer last week to win her fourth straight Tri-Rivers Conference title, is a power runner with a strong kick at the end.Schweitzer, a two-time middle school state champion, runs “light on her feet,” in Schloss' words.

Video by Jim Solsiarek

In the first 10 meets, Schweitzer outran her teammate six times, Beatty prevailed three times and Schweitzer missed a meet due to sickness.“Danielle's a great runner,” Beatty said. “A couple times, I haven't been the happiest camper when she beat me. But we definitely make each other better.”Both girls come from running families. Beatty's older sister, Kara, and Schweitzer's older sister, Jessa, competed for the Bucs before graduating in 2006. Schweitzer's younger sister, Davien, is a seventh-grader who finished third in the middle-school state meet.“I love running a lot,” said Schweitzer, who logged more than 1,200 minutes on the roads throughout the summer. “It's better than walking. Walking takes too long.”Beatty is a four-sport athlete - she was an all-conference basketball and softball performer and plans to play basketball at Des Moines Area Community College next year.She remembers when she was a freshman, when she was in Schweitzer's shoes.“When I was a freshman, I was kind of a dumb runner,” she said. “I'd see somebody ahead of me and go get ‘em. Now I'm a little smarter and wiser.”Schweitzer has tapped into that wisdom.“I've learned a lot from Shelbie,” she said. “She's a tough competitor.”