Mediapolis sweeps boys and girls team titles at home cross country meet

Matt Levins, The Hawk Eye
·3 min read

Mediapolis High School swept the boys and girls team titles Thursday at the annual Mediapolis Cross Country Invitational at Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Wapello.

The Mediapolis boys won the team title with 19 points, followed by Notre Dame-West Burlington with 65 points, Central Lee with 72 points, WACO with 77 points and Highland with 121 points.

Mediapolis swept the top four places in the boys race. Solomon Zaugg won in 16:47.67, followed by Owen Schmidgall (16:51.86), Jeff Campbell (17:28.11) and Logan Rosas (17:50.37). Also in the top 10 for the Bulldogs were Tyler Bratkowski was ninth in 19:28.11 and Ben Rice was 10th in 19:33.94.

Mediapolis runners, right to left, Solomon Zaugg, Owen Schmidgall and Jeff Campbell finished first, second and third, respectively, in the Mediapolis Invitational Thursday at Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Wapello.
Mediapolis runners, right to left, Solomon Zaugg, Owen Schmidgall and Jeff Campbell finished first, second and third, respectively, in the Mediapolis Invitational Thursday at Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Wapello.

Sage Eggar led Notre Dame-West Burlington, finishing seventh in 19:10.64. Anthony Moad was eighth in 19:21.65, Michael Hadden was 12thin 19:43.51, Connor Bush was 17th in 20:34.35, Caleb Bush was 36th in 23:29.03 and Jack Lundin was 41st in 25:46.38.

Central Lee was led by Grant Anderson, who was fifth in 18:50.45.

WACO was led by Keriran Luitjens, who was 11th in 19:36.79.

Mediapolis won the girls team title with 15 points. Leading the way for the Bullettes were Vivian Pfeiff, who was fourth in 23:16.62 and Shelby Schulz, who was fifth in 23:38.96.

Notre Dame-West Burlington's Hannah Fruehling was second in 21:35.51, while Kennedy Ritter was seventh in 24:13.35, Hadley Augustne was eighth in 24:13.64 and Grace Nichols was 12th in 25:18.33.

WACO was led by McKenzie Vradenburg, who was 10th in 25:03.57 and Justine Lynn, who was 11th in 25:14.07.

Audrey Hand led Central Lee, placing 17th in 25:55.93.

VOLLEYBALL

HOLY TRINITY WINS MEDIAPOLIS QUAD: Class 1A's 10th-ranked Holy Trinity won all three matches to win the Mediapolis Quad at the Vernon "Bud" McLearn Court at Mediapolis.

The Crusaders beat Class 2A's fifth-ranked Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, 16-25, 25-20, 15-10, beat Mediapolis, 25-21, 25-14 and beat Fort Madison, 25-10, 25-15.

Holy Trinity freshman Presley Myers goes for a kill over Mediapolis’ Hanna Wagenbach in the Mediapolis Quad held Thursday night at Mediapolis.
Holy Trinity freshman Presley Myers goes for a kill over Mediapolis’ Hanna Wagenbach in the Mediapolis Quad held Thursday night at Mediapolis.

Kayla Box had 13 kills, one assists, three digs and four blocks for the Crusaders, while Teagan Snaadt had 16 digs, Alexa Dingman had had three digs and one ace, Laura Mehmert had one dig and one ace, Mary Kate Bendlage had 21 kills, three assists, 26 digs, one dig and one ace, Reagan Holvoet had one kill, Taegan Denning had seven kills, two assists, two aces, 12 digs and two blocks, Presley Myers had 13 kills, one dig and five blocks, Brooke Mueller had 11 kills, four assists, four aces, 21 digs and one block and Anna Bendlage had two kills, 45 assists, four aces, 23 digs and two blocks.

Mediapolis went 1-2, losing to Holy Trinity and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, 25-16, 26-24 and beating Fort Madison, 25-16, 25-13.

Brenna Thie had five kills for the Bullettes, while Haley Steffener had 12 kills, 10 digs and two blocks, Hanna Wagenbach had 13 kills, 15 digs and four blocks, Jaydon Wirt had three aces and 20 digs, Lexie Arnold had 12 kills and five aces and Lilly Timmerman had nine digs.

Mediapolis’ Haley Steffener (left) and Brenna Thie celebrate a point scored by the Bullettes in the home Quad Thursday night.
Mediapolis’ Haley Steffener (left) and Brenna Thie celebrate a point scored by the Bullettes in the home Quad Thursday night.

ILLINI WEST 25-25, WEST PRAIRIE 20-14: Regan Reed had 10 kills, Josie Bryan had seven kills and Madlyn Boyer had four kills to lead the Chargers to a win over the Cyclones at Sciota.

Bryan also had 12 assists, while Reed had seven assists and seven digs.

Abi White and Boyer also had seven digs for the Chargers, while Boyer had 13 service points and two aces and Bryan had 11 service points and three aces.

Illini West (27-6) hosts Southeastern at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Carthage, Illinois.

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: Mediapolis sweeps boys and girls team titles at home cross country meet