BCLUW's Silver, D-NH girls shine at Pine Lake

ELDORA – The way Caleb Silver sees it, it's all uphill from here.
 
And on a course with as many hills as Pine Lake Golf Course in Eldora on Thursday, it's clear Silver is speaking from experience.
 
But whether running uphill or downhill, Silver, a junior for the BCLUW boys cross country team, put together a consistently-strong performance that ended with him crossing the finish line second overall in 17 minutes, 57 seconds to lead the Comets at the Pine Lake Invitational.
 
Silver finished just over a dozen seconds behind Hudson's Wyatt Kelly, who made a move to the front of a pack dominated by Aplington-Parkersburg runners and held on for the win.
 
In the home stretch, Silver made sure to keep the target on Kelly's back.
 
"I knew that I wanted to stay up there and if anyone did come up behind me, I'd stay with them and just look ahead and try to get that last guy up there," Silver said. "Just keep pushing."
 

Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck's Cora Saak (left) and Dike-New Hartford's Ellie Foster ascend a hill at the Pine Lake Invite in Eldora last Thursday. (Jake Ryder/The Grundy Register photo)
 
In the girls' race, Dike-New Hartford finished third as a team with 97 points, seven ahead of Jesup in fourth place. Hudson was first with 56 points and West Marshall second with 79 points.
 
The Wolverines were led by Ellie Foster, who finished the course in 22:15 to place sixth overall. Sierra Loger was 20th in 24:20 and Kaity Houts, Rachel Wardell and Emily Ballhagen all finished within seconds of each other to earn crucial team points for D-NH.
 
"We made a jump from Tuesday (at Oelwein) to Thursday," Reingardt said of the girls' performance. "Still a long ways to go and a lot of figuring out to do."
 
 
GCGR's Lily Ehlers was also a medalist in a time of 22:30 to place eighth overall. Cora Saak was 14th in 23:38 and Shelby Rivera placed 16th in 23:49. GCGR was fifth in the team standings with 128 points.
 
Read more in the Sept. 7 Grundy Register.