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

North Iowa Cedar League Conference Meet

The Union Knights girls cross country team capped their 2021-22 regular season by taking top honors in the North Iowa Cedar League (NICL) Conference Meet on Thursday, October 14 at the Pine Lake Country Club in Eldora.

The team placed fourth (130 points) out of 13 scoring teams and were led — as they’ve been all season — by senior Ellie Rathe who crossed the finish line in third place with a time of 20:18:8, earning her All-Conference honors.

Denver was the All-Conference champion with 35 points.

Rathe has consistently finished first or in the top clutch this season in all her meets. Her personal record sits at 18:31.20, while the top finisher in the girls race Thursday — and All-Conference Champion — was Reeve Ristau of Denver with a time of 19:48.7.

As of October 13, the Iowa Association of Track Coaches ranked Rathe second in Class 2A girls behind only Danielle Hostetler of Mid-Prairie.

Union’s Lauren Youngblut has been ranked 21st in Class 2A. Youngblut crossed the finish line in 11th place Thursday afternoon with a time of 21:50.7.

The Knights’ fourth place finish was rounded out by Amilia Condon (22nd) with 22:32.8, Sydney Anton (40th) with 24:06.8, Lily Lorenzen (57th) with 25:19.4, Emily Petersen (60th) with 25:40.4, and Elle Hookham (66th) with 26.04.2.

In the boys race, Union’s Sam Fehl came in 63rd with a time of 21:31.4, followed closely by teammates Wyatt Hoy in 65th place with a time of 21:43.0 and Kengo Uchiyama-Hansen in 71st place with a time of 22:05.9.

Other finishers for the Knights included Austin Martin (77th) with 22:37.6, Conner Prestemon (81st) with 23:02.3, Asher Beerman (82nd) with 23:03.3, and Amin Ben Lassoued (86th) with 23:31.8.

Nolan Evans of Jesup was the NICL Champion, recording a finish of 17:06.7.

The Union Knights boys team took 13th place (357 points) out of fourteen teams.

GC/G-R was the NICL boys team champion with 42 points.

This week Thursday (October 21) Union will run in the 2A state qualifying meet in Anamosa beginning at 4 p.m.

Union will face Anamosa, Beckman Catholic, Camanche, Danville/New London, Louisa-Muscatine, Mediapolis, Monticello, North Fayette Valley, Northeast, Starmont, West Liberty, and Wilton in the state qualifier.

Rathe will be looking to end her season and high school cross country career on a high note following her recent streak of first place finishes. Last season, Rathe finished 29th out of 133 finishers in the state meet with a time of 21:12.3.

The 2021 state meet for Class 2A is set for Saturday, October 30 in Fort Dodge.