Donnellson 

A jam-packed cross-country meet featuring over 10 schools awaited Highland at Central Lee. 

Bringing their running talents to Donnellson the Huskies competed in the Southeast Iowa Super Conference Cross-Country Championship meet on Oct. 5. 

Having no prior experience competing on this Central Lee course, this race proved to be a new experience for Highland. 

“We’ve never seen this course before, and the maps were a little confusing to [Highland’s runners] at first,” Highland coach Angela Strobel said about the course. “It was a nice flat course, but also challenging at the same time because we don’t have hills to break it up, sometimes eventually that can be really tough.  

Despite the novelty of the course Highland still ended up with some strong performances and the strongest performance came from Siena Stanerson.

Stanerson, a Highland junior, showed great perseverance throughout the girls varsity race and gave the Huskies its top finish of the day. 

She ran her best race of the year, placing 16th in 23:29, missing out on a top 15 finish by about 10 seconds. 

“Siena Sanderson ran a best time of the season here tonight and finished up 16th, so that was pretty good,” Strobel said. “She was pretty proud of her performance and so am I. Halle Hazelett, the same thing, she did really well tonight.”  

Hazelett, a senior, was the only other runner to complete the girls race for Highland. She placed 43rd with a final time of 26:30.

On the boys side Highland had nine competitors complete the course. 

The top performance for the Highland boys was brought about by Brock Thomann. Thomann stayed consistent during this race and was able to cross the finish line in 21:10 to place 58th.

The next runner to conquer the course for Highland was senior Jackson Schneider, he ran his best race of the year and placed 90th in 23:17. Rounding out the top three Huskies to finish the race, sophomore Brayden Zywiec placed 94th in 23:31.

“We had some best times tonight, that was nice.” Strobel said. “The boys’ side we had two season bests. Jackson Schneider, our only senior boy, ran his best time of the season here tonight and Brayden Zywiec also ran his best time of season.”

With nine Huskies completing the course they did qualify for a team score. As a team Highland placed 11th with a final score of 317.

“I think I’ve had some kids that have been sick or hurt and this was their first meet back and I was glad to see that they’re back in action and looking strong,” coach Strobel said “They did a good job reading the course and walking it, making sure they knew all the tricks to it. I thought they did really well.”

Girls Results 

1. Chloe Glosser, Pekin, 19:54

16. Siena Stanerson, Highland, 23:29

43. Halle Hazelett, Highland, 26:30 

Boys Results 

1. Solomon Zaugg, Mediapolis, 16:38

58. Brock Thomann, Highland, 21:10

90. Jackson Schneider, Highland, 23:17

94. Brayden Zywiec, Highland, 23:31

97. Jacob Schneider, Highland, 24:01

98. Issac Giesmann, Highland, 24:05

101.Chase Hickenbottom, Highland, 24:25

102. Jack Krotz, Highland, 24:05

113. Jackson Robinson, Highland, 27:49

114. Spencer Tompkin, Highland, 27:53