The Ballard cross country team battled its way to a fourth place finish at the Norwalk Invite.  Austin Shoen led the Bombers finishing 12th overall in a time of 17:57.2.  Senior Jack Chism finished 18th in a time of 18:27.5.  Chase Brekke and Seth Pencook finished back-to-back at 20th and 21st.  Trent Payne (28th), Wyatt Borg (38th), and Kale Zimmerman (42nd) would round out the varsity line-up.

Comments From Head Coach Scott Barth:

"The boys also ran a really good race tonight.  We were without the services of one of our best runners Gage Long due to illness and another potential varsity runner Ian Godbold who needed to rest tonight.  Austin Shoen ran a season best time of 17:57 to move below the 18 minute barrier.  Jack Chism fought through a tough first mile but used his mental training to break through and run an excellent time of 18:27.  Chase Brekke and Seth Pencook both set personal PR's and finished with times of 18:33 and 18:36.  Trent Payne also ran his season PR with a time of 19:05.  Wyatt Borg and Kale Zimmerman closed out the traditional varsity line-up in times of 19:52 and 20:26 (PR).  Owen Greco, Ben Ward and Tiernen Edgar closed out the top 10 with times of 20:53, 20:54, and 22:46.

The boys continue to grow into solid runners and are making progress.  They didn't back down from the competition in the absence of team leader Gage Long.  They handily beat Marshalltown, who beat us earlier in the season and stepped quite a bit closer to Bondurant-Farrar who is a target for us at the conference meet.  I feel like we are gaining confidence and conditioning.  I am pretty sure the next two weeks will be good ones for us and we will start hitting full stride in time for the conference and state qualifying meets.  I am proud of these guys."

The Bombers are back in action on Monday, October 12 when they compete in the Raccoon River Conference Meet at the Iowa State Cross Country Course.  The meet will feature the MS/JV/V and will start at 4:00 PM.

NORWALK INVITATIONAL TEAM SCORES

1. Norwalk, 17

2. Winterset, 62

3. Bondurant-Farrar, 93

4. Ballard, 99

5. Marshalltown, 120

6. Indianola JV, 158

NORWALK INVITATIONAL INDIVIDUAL TIMES

12 Austin Shoen, 17:57.2

18 Jack Chism, 18:27.5

20 Chase Brekke, 18:33.7

21 Seth Pencook, 18:36.7

28 Trent Payne, 19:05.6

38 Wyatt Borg, 19:52.7

42 Kale Zimmerman, 20:26.8

Photo Credit: Ellie Shepherd