Stahl ran a personal-best time of 20 minutes, 7 seconds in GC/G-R’s fifth-place finish. Despite the PR, conference teams Class 1A No. 5 Denver had three runners in front of her while 2A No. 2 Aplington-Parkesburg finished ahead with an individual win.

“I thought Taylor had a really great race going into the second half of our season,” GC/G-R head coach Jackson Anderson said. “The four girls that were in front of her those were conference spots and we want her to focus on being first-team all-conference. Just getting as close as she can to those girls is a big mental thing today. Just knowing that they are going to be ahead of her but how close she can stay. What she’s going to do push through. She was by herself. I think she was probably 60-70 meters behind the third Denver girl. Just making sure that she stays in it mentally and still able to push herself and compete even if they are not around her.”

Stahl explained that the key part of her race was being able to relax and that in the future she needs to become mentally tougher for meets.

“I would say my first mile was pretty quick,” Stahl said. “The second mile I started to get a little tight and I just needed to relax a little bit. My last mile I did really well with just relaxing. I knew the three Denver girls were way too far ahead to catch so I was just going for time. It’s the best thing you can do as a runner if people are just too far ahead. This sport is more mental. You have to get your mindset right and I still need to work on that. I still have a lot of time before I run against them in conference.”

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - East Marshall’s Ellie Hull leads GMG’s Angel Schewe around the bend during Thursday’s Spartan Invitational at Town & Country Golf Club in Grundy Center.

The Spartans finished in fifth place overall with a team score of 134 points.

North Tama, which finished in eighth place, had a record-breaking race from Jules Breakenridge’s sixth-place finish. Breakenridge’s 20:32 set North Tama’s 5k record despite it being just the fourth race of her career.

East Marshall came away as the top area team with a third-place finish. Ellie Hull led the Mustangs with an eighth-place finish where she ran a time of 20:53. Wendy Liera ran 22:08 to finish in 15th place while Mkenzie Robinson finished in 17th place with a time of 22:11. Addie Lane ran a 22:16 to finish in 18th place. Rounding out the top-five was Carli Could who finished in 35th place with a time of 23:38.

Both GMG and BCLUW ran with incomplete teams. However, GMG’s Angel Schewe ran 21:23 to finish in 11th place and BCLUW’s Emma Hoover finished in 24th place with a time of 22:45. Denver won the meet with a team score of 40 points.

Spartan Invitational

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

At Grundy Center

GIRLS

Team Standings — 1. Denver 40, 2. Aplington-Parkersburg 47, 3. East Marshall 85, 4. Sumner-Fredericksburg 110, 5. Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck 134, 6. Union 152, 7. Wapsie Valley 195, 8. North Tama 205, 9. South Hardin 235, 10. Oelwein 258

Individual (top 10) — 1. Sophia Jungling, AP, 18:44; 2. Grace Beck, DEN, 19:15; 3. Chloe Ristau, DEN, 19:35; 4. Amber Homan, DEN, 19:41; 5. Taylor Stahl, GC/G-R, 20:07; 6. Jules Breakenridge, NT, 20:32; 7. Lia Hovenga, AP, 20:36; 8. Ellie Hull, EM, 20:53; 9. Sydnie Martin, WV, 21:08; 10. Laci Even, DEN, 21:17.

EAST MARSHALL (85) — 8. Hull 20:53, 15. Wendy Liera 22:08, 17. Mkenzie Robinson 22:11, 18. Addie Lane 22:16, 35. Carli Gould 23:38, 40. Hannah Roads 24:10, 55. Olivia Terrones 24:44.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

GRUNDY CENTER/GLADBROOK-REINBECK (134) — 5. Stahl 20:07, 25. Bella Dole 22:57, 30. Paiton Wallis 23:32, 31. Abbie Lindeman 23:34, 59. Emma Beck 25:12, 60. Lauren Wegmann 25:31, 61. Whitney Laube 25:35.

NORTH TAMA (205) — 6. Breakenridge 20:32, 26. Olivia Ketter 23:07, 62. Jordan Rigel 25:39, 67. Rachel Robinson 27:17, 73. Sareena Amyuden 31:12, 74. Sabryna Rigel 31:19.

BCLUW — 24. Emma Hoover 22:45, 58. Payton Pekarek 25:07, 72. Chloe Walters 30:30.

GMG — 11. Angel Schewe 21:23, 29. Belle Duncan 23:32.