TCT sports round-up for Sept. 25-Oct. 1: Ballard girls win Perry Invite cross country meet

The Ballard girls cross country team pulled off a tight victory and the Bomber boys engineered a strong third-place showing at the Leon Fox Invitational cross country meet in Perry Sept. 29.

The Ballard girls, ranked third in Class 3A, scored 36 points to edge sixth-ranked Adel-Desoto-Minburn by one point for first. The Bomber boys finished with 79 points, coming in behind only Winterset and Des Moines Christian, who both tallied a score of 30.

The Collins-Maxwell boys tallied 101 points to come in behind Ogden's 47 points and Madrid's 65 in the 10-team field at the Ogden Invitational. The Spartan girls took fifth out of six teams with 89 points, with Grand View Christian bringing home the girls team title with a score of 56.

The Ballard volleyball team lost four-set matches to both North Polk and West Marshall. The Bombers won their first set against North Polk by a 25-23 score, then dropped the next three by 25-20, 25-13 and 25-19 decisions Sept. 27 at Huxley in falling to 1-6 in the Raccoon River Conference. Ballard also won its first set against West Marshall Sept. 29 in Huxley, rolling to a 25-9 victory only to lose the next three sets by scores of 25-18, 25-21 and 25-23 in dropping to 11-11 on the season.

The Collins-Maxwell volleyball team was swept by Ankeny Centennial (21-9, 21-6), Van Meter (21-6, 21-7), Audubon (21-1, 21-9) and Madrid (21-19, 21-10) at the Madrid Invitational Saturday in falling to 2-20 on the season. The Spartans were swept by North Tama, 25-15, 25-10 and 25-6, in Iowa Star Conference play Sept. 29 in Collins as they fell to 2-5 in the conference.

Here is what we learned from last week's TCT sports action.

Strong lead pack lifts Bomber girls to victory

The Ballard girls held off ADM thanks to an outstanding group of lead runners.

The Bombers placed three runners in the top four.

Paityn Noe, the No. 1 runner in 3A, ran an amazing 5-kilometer time of 17 minutes, 43 seconds to beat third-ranked Geneva Timmerman of ADM by 59 seconds for first. Annika Larson, ranked sixth, and Ava Vance, ranked 29th, gave Ballard the third and fourth-place finishers with respective times of 19:38 and 20:09.

Ava Richardson took ninth in 20:48 and freshman McKenzie Dee was 19th in 22:10 as the other Bomber runners to score.

In the boys race Ballard was led by Seth Pencook, who finished 11th in 17:35. Austin Shoen took 13th in 17:45, Trent Payne 16th in 18:14 and Jayden Leland and Bradley Sage both ran an 18:39 to place 19th and 20th respectively.

Des Moines Christian's Aaron Fynaardt, ranked No. 1 individually in 2A, won the boys race with a time of 16:09.

Ethan Haus keeps his tremendous senior season going for Collins-Maxwell

Ethan Haus ran another fantastic race for the Collins-Maxwell boys at Ogden.

Haus, ranked 21st in 1A, placed third overall with a 5k time of 16:54.05. Madrid's Ethan Loutzenheiser and Clay Warson, ranked first and fifth in 1A, were the first two runners to cross the finish line with respective times of 16:24.08 and 16:43.29.

Austin Hennick ran an 18:20.14 to place 11th as the second Spartan runner to cross the finish line. Hunter Lee clocked in at 18:52.53 to place 18th, Silas Kimberley was 37th in 20:09.31 and Isaiah Hill 39th in 20:16.81.

The Collins-Maxwell girls were led by freshmen Triona Scott and Cypress Erickson. Scott finished 10th with a 5k time of 21:50.55 and Erickson was 12th in 22:20.84.

Chloe Wierson also finished in the top 20 for Collins-Maxwell with a time of 22:45.68. Ashlyn Davis was 28th in 23:34.16

and Sarah Tschantz 30th in 24:07.06 to round out the scoring for the Spartan girls.

Grand View Christian's Maddy Childs, ranked fifth in 1A, won the girls race in 18:52.17.

Ballard spikers can't keep up hot start in two losses

The Ballard volleyball team struggled to maintain early momentum during its two losses last week.

In the loss to North Polk the Bombers gave up 12.8 kills per set on 25.2% efficiency and they averaged 9.5 on 15.1% efficiency. Ballard was also hurt by North Polk's strong serving, giving up 16 aces and only recording four of its own.

Memphis Inglett and Brenna Baumgardner both had nine kills, Brooklyn Baumgardner seven and Alliyah Thompson and Kate Miller six apiece. Brooklyn Baumgardner had nine blocks, Thompson four, Brenna Baumgardner three, Inglett two and Miller one.

Payton Askelsen had 19 digs and Rylee Scherder six for the Bombers. Rylie Askelsen recorded 20 assists and five digs and Ally Baker and Ellie Volkmann eight assists apiece.

In the loss to West Marshall the Bombers averaged 12.8 kills per set on 17.6% efficiency. They also averaged 12.8 digs and 10 blocks and served at a 92.8% clip with nine aces.

Brooklyn Baumgardner tallied 12 kills and four blocks, Inglett 10 kills and three blocks and Thompson nine kills and two blocks. Brenna Baumgardner added six kills and one block, Miller five kills and Eden Hart four kills.

Payton Askelsen added 19 digs and Hailey Flanders and Ella Ashworth seven apiece against the Trojans. Riley Askelsen had 27 assists, Baker 13 and Volkmann seven and Flanders led Ballard in serving with four aces.

Spartan volleyball team struggles at Madrid

The Collins-Maxwell volleyball team had a rough outing at the Madrid Invitational.

The Spartans only had 10 kills as a team during the tournament. They ended up with 62 digs, six blocks and five aces.

Marissa Boege recorded four kills, three blocks and 16 digs for Collins-Maxwell during the tournament. Hannah Kimberley added three kills and Vivian Kahler, Ella Steward and Payton Steele one apiece.

Graice Leslie finished with five assists and Boege and Kahler two apiece. Steward added 11 digs, Payton Steele 15 and Kiera Ruiz-Genovese six.

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ballard girls win Perry Invite cross country meet