VanDraska guides Prairie cross-country to MVC win

CEDAR RAPIDS - Once again, Cedar Rapids Prairie found some magic on the College Community campus.

Five months removed from helping Prairie win a historic Mississippi Valley Conference boys' track and field championship on its home track, junior Tysen VanDraska captured the MVC boys' individual cross country title as fourth-ranked Prairie edged No. 6 Linn-Mar for the team title, 58-66, Thursday at Prairie.

'We've run this course hundreds of times seems like in the past week,” VanDraska said. 'So we knew it like the back of our hand. ... It gives us a lot of pride, and we just want to defend our home course as best we can.”

VanDraska, the third-ranked runner in Class 4A, held off a hard-charging Sam Schillinger of No. 2 Cedar Falls to win by seven seconds in 15:59.

'I kept hearing them yelling for that Cedar Falls kid,” VanDraska said. 'I knew he was right behind me.”

Prairie led all schools with three top-10 finishers. Matt Lorenz was fifth, Jake Moore seventh.

'It's an honor to race in this conference,” Prairie Coach Bill Schwarz said. 'Without a doubt, the best cross country conference in the state.”

Senior Akash Borde (16:06) finished third in the individual race for fifth-place Iowa City West. Brothers Daniel and Ryan Murphy were fourth and sixth, respectively, for runner-up Linn-Mar.

Fifth-ranked Iowa City West won the girls' team title for the first time in five years when freshman Bailey Nock and senior Emmie Skopec finished 2-3 in the individual race. With four top-10 runners and 38 points, West easily distanced itself from ninth-ranked and three-time defending MVC champion Linn-Mar (95 points).

'It's great my senior year that we could come together and do this,” said Skopec, who reached the finish line in 14:40, seven seconds behind her freshman teammate. 'On the starting line I told her, ‘Don't be afraid to beat me, you can do it; you can win the title just as much as I can.'”

Linn-Mar didn't capture a fourth consecutive girls' team title, but the Lions took home individual honors when junior Amber Decker, a runner-up last season, won in 14:32.

'Our goal as a team was to go out hard and it paid off,” Decker said. 'I don't know how to describe it. It's so great, and I can't wait to share it with my teammates.”

After Decker, the next five spots belonged to Iowa City schools. Mary Arch of Iowa City High was fourth, and West sophomore Olivia Moore finished fifth.

MISSISSIPPI VALLEY CONFERENCE SUPER MEET

At Cedar Rapids Prairie

GIRLS RESULTS

Teams - 1. Iowa City West 38, 2. Linn-Mar 95, 3. Dubuque Hempstead 98, 4. Iowa City High 105, 5. Cedar Falls 118, 6. Cedar Rapids Prairie 175, 7. Dubuque Senior 182, 8. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 232, 9. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 235, 10. Dubuque Wahlert 263, 11. Cedar Rapids Xavier 292, 12. Cedar Rapids Washington 305, 13. Waterloo West 408, 14. Waterloo East 418.

Individuals - 1. Amber Decker (LM), 14:32; 2. Bailey Nock (ICW), 14:33; 3. Emmie Skopec (ICW), 14:40; 4. Mary Arch (ICH), 14:52; 5. Olivia Moore (ICW), 15:05.

I.C. West - 2. Nock; 3. Skopec; 5. Olivia Moore, 15:05; 10. Gabby Skopec, 15:25; 18. Claire Ronnebaum, 15:36.

Linn-Mar - 1. Decker; 14. Maddie Saville, 15:28; 23. Deanna Newhouse, 15:42; 28. Sydney Johnston, 15:50; 29. Morgan Garcia and Maddie Mann, 15:51.

City High - 4. Arch; 6. Molly Shepherd, 15:13; 19. Emily Bywater, 15:38; 37. Hazel Crew, 16:00; 39. Bridget Brown, 16:02.

Prairie - 9. Cayla Renwick, 15:25; 33. Hannah Frazee, 15:53; 41. Eilish Stanek, 16:04; 44. Alissa Neubauer, 16:10; 48. Victoria Enyart, 16:16.

Kennedy - 11. Hannah Fusselman, 15:26; 25. Lauren Meyer, 15:45; 61. Kate Nus, 16:39; 67. Laura Feld, 16:55; 68. Peyton Bourgeois, 16:58.

Xavier - 13. Jenny Dickes, 15:27; 52. Emiko Coffey, 16:30; 70. Kiana Stanek, 17:04; 78. Liz Hessman, 17:25; 79. Annie Sigmon, 17:35.

Washington - 7. Sarah Altmeier, 15:18; 65. Serena Eck, 16:53; 76. Brett Visser, 17:22; 77. Ashley Hageman, 17:24; 80. Joi Johnson, 17:41.

Jefferson - 26. Sarah Hanna, 15:47; 42. Adriana Hargrove, 16:05; 49. Megan Ely, 16:18; 55. Meredith Koenigsfeld, 16:35; Caleigh Meyer, 16:48.

BOYS RESULTS

Teams - 1. Cedar Rapids Prairie 58, 2. Linn-Mar 66, 3. Cedar Falls 68, 4. Dubuque Hempstead 91, 5. Iowa City West 115, 6. Dubuque Senior 167, t7. Iowa City High 171, t7. Cedar Rapids Washington 171, 9. Dubuque Wahlert 274, 10. Cedar Rapids Kennedy 293, 11. Waterloo West 328, 12. Cedar Rapids Jefferson 357, 13. Cedar Rapids Xavier 362, 14. Waterloo East 463.

Individuals - 1. Tysen VanDraska (CRP), 15:59; 2. Sam Schillinger (CF), 16:06; 3. Akash Borde (ICW), 16:06; 4. Daniel Murphy (LM), 16:15; 5. Matt Lorenz (CRP), 16:19.

Prairie - 1. VanDraska; 5. Lorenz; 7. Jake Moore, 16:22; 18. Zack Fiser, 16:47; 27. Chris Oehlert, 16:57.

Linn-Mar - 4. D. Murphy; 6. Ryan Murphy, 16:20; 13. Michael Mather, 16:34; 19. Bryan Fogerty, 16:48; 24. Jay Halverson, 16:55.

I.C. West - 3. Borde; 15. Nick Feeley, 16:43; 28. Adam Weis, 16:58; 33. Matthew Schneider, 17:09; 36. Abdallah Ali, 17:12.

City High - 11. Joel Bender, 16:32; 23. Matthew Dodge, 16:55; 38. Jarrett Purdy, 17:13; 49. Michael Taylor and Tom McDowell, 17:31

Washington - 16. Sam Eck, 16:43; 22. Finbar Berry, 16:54; 34. Sam Werner, 17:11; 46. Wyatt Forster, 17:27; 53. Ryan Miller, 17:37.

Kennedy - 37. Addison Furry, 17:13; 52. Andrew Solsrud, 17:35; 61. Derek Girling, 17:49; 71. Reece Linder, 18:15; 72. Tim Zange, 18:16.

Xavier - 48. Steven Culpepper, 17:29; 70. Evan Gradoville, 18:15; 79. Nolan Pithan, 18:39; 80. John Pape, 18:41; 85. Jonah Scallon, 18:58.

Jefferson - 66. Nate Homan, 18:04; 67. Joseph Sibomana, 18:10; 69. Jason Chung, 18:13; 77. Nathan Prochnow, 18:36; 78. Christopher Haring, 18:38.

l Comments: douglas.miles@thegazette.com