For the first time since 2015, the Columbus Community boys’ cross country team took home top honors at a meet when they won in Keota at Lagos Acres on Monday evening.
The Wildcats finished first out of five team scores with 40 points while North Mahaska came in second with 59. All seven Wildcat runners finished in the top 14 led by Isaac Acosta. The sophomore finished as runner-up in a time of 20:04. Other top finishes included Jesus Medrano in eighth (21:46), Freddy Vergara ninth (21:54), and Garrett Palmer in 10th (22:00). Head Coach Steve Riley tells KCII Sports it was a special night. “It was awesome and we did exactly what I thought we could do. It was a bunch of schools that were our size and we competed very well. The nice thing about our team is we have the depth a lot of small schools do not have.” The girls’ team finished fourth with 63 points while Highland won with 43. Van Iang paced Columbus in 10th (27:45) and Juvixsa Valdez was 16th (29:15).
The Wildcats are off until next Thursday when they travel to Fort Madison.