Indians showcase veterans, newcomers alike in season debut

After graduating four talented seniors from a team that has placed in the top-5 of the state two out of the past three years, the Spirit Lake girls cross country team didn't know quite what to expect with three freshman newcomers on the squad entering their season-opening meet Tuesday at the Spencer Invitational.

The Indians, ranked ninth in Class 2A, definitely turned some heads with a third place performance, falling six points shy of a meet title. Algona took home top team honors with 61 points, edging host Spencer by a mere three points. Spirit Lake tallied 67 points, while Estherville Lincoln Central/Armstrong Ringsted (96) and Le Mars (101) completed the top five in a meet that included seven full and six incomplete squads.

Senior Briana Brunsvold and sophomore K.J. Veldman, the top two returning runners from a year ago, each turned in stellar races. Brunsvold overcame a rather large gap in the final mile to overtake Spencer's Daly Tighe for fourth place with a time of 16 minutes, 46 seconds. Veldman crossed the finish line sixth in 16:59.

"Briana and K.J. are a couple of our veterans and they know how to get a good start and maintain themselves in a cross country race," said Spirit Lake coach Tim Heinitz. "And that's what they did, they were in the top 10 the whole race. They have the experience and are great leaders for our team."

Freshman Dondi Schmidt was the third top-10 performer for the Indians. She earned medalist honors with a 10th place showing, finishing in 17:45. Freshman Jessie Kabele ended up 17th in 18:07 and Dana Potter finished as the fifth scorer in 30th with a clocking of 18:53.

Freshman Justine Heinitz, who has been battling tendinitis, came in 33rd in 18:59 and Liz Skogerboe was 41st in 19:19.

"I was very pleased overall with all the girls. They had a lot of nerves to deal with at the start of the race with the three freshman, Dondi, Jessie and Justine," said Heinitz. "For the first meet of the season they turned in really good times and I couldn't be more pleased with their races. Tonight Dana Potter was our fifth runner and I think that's the first time she's been one of our top five scorers. We do need our fifth, sixth and seventh runners to move up as far as pack running goes, but it's early in the season and hopefully we improve on that by the middle of the season. We have a long ways to go and we'll take it one meet at a time. Tonight I think they showed that we're one of the best teams in northwest Iowa, they didn't have the confidence before tonight, but their performance will help a lot (in terms of getting that confidence)."

Spencer Invitational (CENTERED AND BOLD)

Team scores -- 1. Algona 61; 2. Spencer 64; 3. Spirit Lake 67; 4. Estherville Lincoln Central/Armstrong Ringsted 96; 5. Le Mars 101; 6. Western Christian 188; 7. OA/BCIG 200.

Individual results -- 4. Briana Brunsvold 16:46; 6. K.J. Veldman 16:59; 10. Dondi Schmidt 17:45; 17. Jessie Kabele 18:07; 30. Dana Potter 18:53; 33. Justine Heinitz 18:59; 41. Liz Skogerboe 19:19.