Conner Smith

WEST DES MOINES — Marshalltown High School senior Conner Smith set the pace at the 47th Tom Karpan Cross Country Invite, winning Tuesday’s race by a whopping 13 seconds on the campus of Valley Southwoods Freshman High School.

The Bobcats came in fifth out of eight scoring teams at West Des Moines Valley’s annual event, totalling 139 points to just edge Council Bluffs Lewis Central (140). Class 4A No. 8 Norwalk (40) held off No. 10 Ankeny Centennial (49) for the team title, followed by Des Moines Roosevelt (93) and Valley (95).

Smith’s winning time of 16 minutes, 35.9 seconds was comfortably in front of the field, with Lewis Central’s Ethan Eichhorn giving chase in second place (16:48.8). Norwalk’s Donovan Card (16:50.0) and Valley’s Evan McClinton (16:51.7) rounded out the chase pack behind Smith.

Bobcat junior Jason Strand scored 28th place with his clocking of 18:19.6, and classmate Anthoneih Kopsa came in 36th with a time of 18:38.5. Freshman John Moellers made his way to 52nd in 19:12.8, and senior Marco Herrera’s 55th-place finish in 19:25.0 rounded out Marshalltown’s scoring performances.

Diego Teada (63rd, 20:04.0) and Andrew Kodis (67th, 20:34.1) also competed for MHS.

On the girls’ side, Marshalltown was unable to field a full team, sending a pair of seniors into the junior varsity ranks to experience more comparable competition. The Bobcats were led by senior Veronica Herrera, who placed 20th in a time of 21:37.5. Micah Blevins, a junior, was just back in 22nd place (21:44.9), with senior Rachel Smith crossing moments later in 27th (21:57.9).

Rounding out the Bobcats’ varsity roster on this night was junior Grace Rasmussen, who finished up in 51st (23:47.9).

Fifth-ranked Valley won the team title with 25 points, No. 9 Ankeny Centennial was second (37) and Norwalk (90) snuck in ahead of No. 11 Waukee (99) for third.

Marshalltown returns to action on Saturday with a trip to Pella for the Central College Invitational.