Union’s Ellie Rathe sprints toward the finish during a recent meet. Rathe has more often than not recorded first place finishes this season. Rathe along with her fellow Union runners head to the 2A state qualifier this Thursday in Anamosa. Photo by Ruby F. Bodeker

Wolverine Invitational

Union Knights senior cross country runner Ellie Rathe continued her habit of crossing the finish line in first this past Tuesday, October 5 at the Dike-New Hartford Wolverine Invitational on the Fox Ridge Golf Course in Dike.

Rathe clocked in at 18:31.2 in the varsity girls 5K, setting both a personal and season record according to Kauder Racing data. Her previous record was 18:35.10.

The Union girls team took fifth overall out of 19 scoring teams. Denver came in first, followed by Hudson (2nd), North Linn (3rd), and host Dike-New Hartford (4th).

Rathe’s teammate, sophomore Lauren Youngblut also set a personal/season record on the Dike course, clocking in at 19:57.8 — beating her previous record of 20:38.9 — for an 11th place finish.

North Tama senior runner Jules Breakenridge also had a great meet, crossing the finish line in 14th place with a time of 20:22.2 — just shy of beating her own personal/season record of 20:22.10, according to Kauder Racing data.

Union freshman Amilia Condon finished with a time of 20:08.6 which was good for 27th place, while North Tama sophomore Jamie Jacobs finished in 46th with a time of 21:10.3 and North Tama junior Olivia Ketter came across the finish line in 53rd with a time of 22:33.2.

The North Tama girls team finished 18th out of 19 scoring teams.

For the varsity boys 5K, Union placed 19th out of 20 scoring teams, while North Tama did not place due to not enough runners. The Redhawks solitary boys runner Christian Dronebarger finished with a time of 21:22.7 in 127th place out of 147 finishers.

Union’s top finisher for the boys was freshman Kengo Uchiyama-Hansen who came in 80th with a time of 19:24.2 which, according to Kauder Racing data, was a personal/season record. Uchiyama-Hansen’s teammate sophomore Sam Fehl came in 87th with a time of 19:39.2, also a personal/season record.

The Union Knights will run for the last time (ahead of the state qualifier) on Thursday, October 14 in the North Iowa Cedar League (NICL) Conference meet at Pine Lake Country Club in Eldora beginning at 3 p.m.

The North Tama Redhawks will run for the last time (ahead of the state qualifier) on Thursday, October 14 in the Iowa Star Conference meet at the Wartburg Max Cross Country Course in Waverly beginning at 4:30 p.m.