Danville-New London edges Mediapolis in battle of state-ranked boys cross country teams

WINFIELD -- Slow and steady wins the race.

That seemed to be Mediapolis High School senior Solomon Zaugg's strategy Thursday during the SEI Superconference cross country meet.

With a cool north wind whipping across Twin Lakes Golf Course, Solomon decided to let Danville-New London senior AJ Bonnesen take the lead, and the brunt of the wind.

Drafting in behind Bonnesen, Zaugg stayed within close striking distance.

Then, as the two approached the crest of the next-to-last hill, Zaugg made his move.

Zaugg zipped around Bonnesen and was gone like the wind, winning in 16 minutes, 56.2 seconds, 9.7 seconds ahead of second-place Bonnesen.

"I didn't really go too hard in this race. I tried to tone it back a little bit. I wasn't out front the whole race. I just tried to run more relaxed this race. It helped me a lot because I had a lot of energy at the end," Zaugg said. "I made my move at the top of the hill so I could gain momentum as I passed him. I was saving up for that point. I knew if it didn't work there it wouldn't work."

"I didn't run very good today. It is what it is," said Bonnesen, who has been in and out of the Bears' lineup all season while battling a painful Achilles tendon injury. "I'm coming off an injury. I felt like I was running on one wheel."

While Zaugg won the individual battle with Bonnesen, Danville-New London nipped Mediapolis for the team title.

Danville-New London had four runners -- Bonnesen, Rylan Martin, Carter Fesler and Jackson Schacklett -- finish in the top eight. The Bears totaled 35 points.

Mediapolis had three runners -- Zaugg, Owen Schmidgall and Jeff Campbell -- place in the top six. The Bulldogs took second with 53 points.

The two state-ranked teams -- Danville-New London is second, Mediapolis is 17th, both in Class 2A -- have developed a friendly rivalry this season.

Perhaps no rivalry is better than the one between Martin and Schmidgall. Three times this season Schmidgall has led Martin heading into the final 200 meters. Three times Martin has sprinted to edge Schmidgall at the finish line.

It happened again on Thursday as Martin took third in 17:15.1, while Schmidgall was fourth in 17:15.4.

"That's my 800 speed right there. I'm more of a track guy, I think. That last 100 was just like an 800 for me. With me and Owen Schmidgall, that's like the third time I've just barely beaten him at the end," Martin said. "I feel like I ran a pretty controlled race. Third is about what I was expecting and that's right where I finished. I feel like that was a pretty good day for me."

"It's happened multiple times this year where I pass him in the last half of the third mile. I think I've got him and then he's really fast and he just sprints past me. It's no shame losing to Rylan Martin," Schmidgall said. "We tried to get first as a team, obviously. I went out not as fast as I normally do. It was easy for me to keep the pace throughout and focus on Rylan Martin ahead of me and try to catch him."

Before the race, A.J. Fesler gave his son, Danville-New London junior Carter Fesler, a T-shirt he had stored away 26 years ago. It was a shirt commemorating the Bears' three straight conference championships from 1994-96.

Inspired by the memento, Carter Fesler went out and did his part to help Danville-New London lock up its third straight championship, matching his father's feat. Carter Fesler finished seventh in 17:57.0.

"It's kind of a little bit of a homage to when he ran. This will be our third straight conference championship and his teams won three in the 1990s. It's kind of cool to represent what he used to do," Carter Fesler said. "I didn't think I needed to be where I should have been. At the end of the day we all ran really good as a team. Freshman Isaac Shinn really stepped up and ran a great race today."

Campbell finished sixth in 17:48.3, but was quick to give credit to his teammates for the team's second-place showing.

"I'm so proud of these guys. A lot of people just look at us top three guys, but those four and five guys, without those guys we would be nothing. Tyler Bratkowski and Logan Rosas," Campbell said. "These two kids are the real heroes. Not me and not Solomon and not Owen. All these kids sacrificing. They are great teammates and I am so blessed to be a part of this team."

Van Buren County freshman Lincoln Bainbridge finished ninth in 18:15.5.

Sage Eggar led Notre Dame-West Burlington, finishing 23rd in 19:26.5.

TEAM SCORES

1. Danville-New London, 35; 2. Mediapolis, 53; 3. Columbus, 104; 4. Winfield-Mount Union, 111; 5. Louisa-Muscatine, 149; 6. Notre Dame-West Burlington, 174; 7. WACO, 191; 8. Central Lee, 192; 9. Pekin, 199; 10. Van Buren County, 242; 11. Wapello, 274; 12. Highland, 333.

TOP 10 INDIVIDUALS

1. Solomon Zaugg (Mepo), 16:56.2; 2. AJ Bonnesen (D-NL), 17:05.9; 3. Rylan Martin (D-NL), 17:15.1; 4. Owen Schmidgall (Mepo), 17:15.4; 5. Brady McWhirter (P), 17:36.7; 6. Jeff Campbell (Mepo), 17:48.3; 7. Carter Fesler (D-NL), 17:57.0; 8. Jackson Shacklett (D-NL), 18:09.2; 9. Lincoln Bainbridge (VBC), 18:15.5; 10. Kohlby Newsom (W-MU), 18:16.9.

Matt Levins is a sports reporter for the USA Today Network in Burlington, Iowa, who has covered local sports for 32 years at The Hawk Eye. Reach him at mlevins@thehawkeye.com.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Danville-New London edges Mediapolis in battle of state-ranked teams