The Ballard men's cross country team finished 6th in the Raccoon River Conference Meet on Tuesday afternoon in Adel.  The Bombers scored 178 team points.  North Polk won the meet scoring 32 team points.  All five schools who finished ahead of the Bombers were ranked.

Seth Pencook finished 26th overall finishing in a time of 17:35.7.  Austin Shoen ran in 17:57.9 which placed him 32nd overall.  Trent Payne, 36th place, ran in a time of 18:07.7.  Bradley Sage (40th - 18:49.5) and Peyton Johnson ( 44th - 19:19.9) rounded out the Bomber's scoring on the day.

Comments From Head Coach Scott Barth:

"We faced a lot of adversity heading into this meet and it carried over to the meet. Fortunately we had awesome senior leadership which carried us to a good run on the course. We were led by 3 seniors in Seth Pencook, who placed 26th, Austin Shoen who checked in at 32nd and Trent Payne finishing up in 36th.They set the tone for the meet and over the course of the entire season so far. Another great leader Bradley Sage ran a solid race and placed 40th. Freshman up and comer Peyton Johnson closed out our varsity runners with his 44th place finish. These guys all ran well in a loaded conference meet. There are currently 4 top 10 ranked teams in our conference and another in the top 15 to get to 5 ranked teams. 4 of these guys ran the exact same course 2 weeks ago and improved by an average of 1 minute. So they ran great! I am very proud of their efforts in the face of the challenges.

We had 3 varsity level athletes that were not able to compete or compete at level due to a variety of injuries that they have been nursing over the course of the last 2 weeks. Max Davidson had moved up to as high as #3 on the team but was sidelined totally today in hopes to have him at full strength next week at SQM. Jayden Leland , also frequently found in our top 5,  attempted to jump back and race but was not quite ready and pulled out of the race half way through. Logan Huntrods, a full time varsity runner, also attempted a comeback but couldn't perform to his abilities.Missing these 3 athletes did limit our potential today and took us out of contention to pull an upset over a ranked team. At full strength, we are right in the conversation for a top 20 team. The cards were not in our favor tonight. 

So, moving forward, we are hoping to maintain the health of the 5 that ran at RRC tonight, get Max Davidson back in the fold and add in either Jayden or a top JV runner in Ian Godbold or Braden Kubichek. They are both peaking at the right time and can definitely run with the varsity if needed. Although we are heading into a SQM with 4 ranked teams, we have something left to prove and would love to finish with or near one or 2 of those teams. It will take our best effort, but we will be ready to take the challenge."

The Bombers are back in action on Wednesday - October 19 when they compete in the State Qualifying Meet in Pella.  The meet will start at 4:00 PM.

RACCOON RIVER CONFERENCE MEN'S TEAM SCORES 

1. North Polk, 32

2. Winterset, 50

3. Gilbert, 67

4. Carlisle, 75

5. ADM, 123

6. Ballard, 178

7. Bondurant-Farrar, 187

8. Boone, 242

RACCOON RIVER CONFERENCE MEN'S INDIVIDUAL TIMES

26 Seth Pencook, 17:35.7

32 Austin Shoen, 17:57.9

36 Trent Payne, 18:07.7

40 Bradley Sage, 18:49.5

44 Peyton Johnson, 19:19.9