Edmunds County Tribune -

Ipswich hosted the Lake Region Conference cross country event Wednesday, Oct. 6 at Split Rock Country Club.

The Frederick Area girls topped their 5K varsity run 13 to 20 over the runners-up from Northwestern. Meanwhile Ipswich placed third as a girls' team with its 25 team points among the six teams that were eligible for the varsity standings.

But Northwestern's Ella Boekelheide finished first in 19:10.73, topping the second-place runner Morgan Sumption of Frederick Area clocked at 19:22.21. Ipswich's top scorer that afternoon would become Ashlinn Hartwell, in sixth at 20:58.03, while Gracyn Kadlec was ninth in 21:18.21 and Madyson Gellhaus tenth in 21:24.81. Ipswich also utilized Gabrielle Wald in 14th at 23:12.96 and Katelyn Tufte was 16th in 23:42.57. There were a total of 23 entrants in this race.

Thirty-five runners heard the starting gun in the boys' varsity 5K that was won by Hunter Niederbaumer of Faulkton Area in 17:01.89 and Dillon Browning of Warner finished second in 17:14.64. The team results revealed that Northwestern was first with 16 points and Frederick Area was second with 20 team points.

The Ipswich varsity boys placed fourth as a team with their 39. Dylan Wald was 11th in 18:44.50 and their next scorer would become Taylor Thorson in 13th at 18:47.23. Next was Xavier Kadlec placing 19th in 19:31.48.

The girls' junior varsity run would be won by Frederick Area both as a team and individually. The Titans' Katie Bresch won it in 18:27.74 and her team won 7 to 14 over second-place Ipswich. (And Frederick's Chloe Akin was second individually in 19:05.47 to further improve their odds.) Ipswich was led by Ava Davis who was fourth in 19:42.41. Chloe Jager placed sixth in 21:48.10 and Hailey Usselman was eighth in 22:51.92.

IHS cross country runners pictured are Dylan Wald, the leader in this photo, with IHS runners Taylor Thorson and Xavier Kadlec further back.

Ipswich entered just two boys into their JV fray. Clayton Horst placed fourth in 17:14.16 and Tyler Gellhaus was sixth in 17:22.04. This event was individually won by Frederick Area's Jericho King in 15:53.61 and his own teammate Titus Kippley was second in 16:06.39. Obviously Frederick Area was able to top Northwestern 7 to 14 for their team bragging rights.

Meanwhile Ipswich's Aubree DeRaad placed second only to Faulkton's Austina Sorensen (11:51.80 to 11:54.99) in a close race to the finish line during their 3K middle-school girls' event. The Tigers' Bella Unser also entered for Ipswich, placing eighth in 14:46.09. (Northwestern defeated Frederick Area in the team standings 10 to 15.) And an Ipswich boy did even better in his 3K m-s run. Jace Stiles indeed won it in 11:48.95 over Leola's Jacob Kallenberger in 12:18.10. (Northwestern claimed the team title 11-11 over Leola.)

The Region 4B meet will be in Gettysburg Thursday, Oct. 14, with a 1 p.m. start time. The meet was originally scheduled for Oct. 13, but it was postponed due to the weather. The State B is then scheduled for October 23 in Sioux Falls.