BETTENDORF — For Oct. 11, Emmanuel Marcos-Teles had no complaints about the race he ran Thursday.

“I’m happy — for now,” Marcos-Teles said after capturing second place at the Mississippi Athletic Conference boys cross country meet at Crow Creek Park.

Marcos-Teles, a senior at Clinton High School, kept Pleasant Valley’s Caleb Drake in his sight all the way and ran the 5,000-meter course in 16 minutes, 13 seconds, 10 seconds behind Drake’s winning time.

“It was a pretty good race,” Marcos-Teles said. “I tried to stay in front of the group and pretty much stay with him, follow him and pace with him. I didn’t try to burn myself out too much.”

Drake, ranked second in the state in Class 4A, established a lead early and kept a comfortable advantage all the way to improve upon his second-place finish a year ago. He also led the Spartans to the conference title with 27 points.

Marcos-Teles also improved one spot from 2011. Ranked 26th in the state, he finished ahead of two runners ranked above him: No. 7 Steven Kruse and No. 9 Colin Ensminger, both of runner-up Burlington. Ensminger finished fifth in 16:40, with Kruse seventh in 16:41.

“I think he ran well,” Clinton coach Tony Smith said of Marcos-Teles. “He always competes.”

Smith also was pleased that the River Kings placed fifth in the team standings, edging Bettendorf by three points.

“That’s about what we expected,” Smith said. “I thought we ran well.”

Nathan Schroeder was Clinton’s second finisher, taking 26th in 17:56. Jon Cady (42nd in 18:36), Bret Determan (45th in 18:43) and Cole Stuedemann (48th in 18:47) also scored for Clinton, which finished with 163 points.

The results weren’t quite as kind for Clinton’s girls, although Kim Kaster claimed 21st place in 16:36. The River Queens placed ninth with 261 points.

“A couple of girls — Kathleen Marston and Emily Bradley — were sick, and Shelby (Weets) was probably at 60 percent,” Smith said. “Our girls were really coming along, too.”

Weets, Clinton’s No. 2 runner who had missed the most recent meets because of shin splints, placed 55th in 19:29. With Marston and Bradley both out, the River Queens were left with just five runners. Yissel Lopez-Ruiz placed 60th for Clinton in 21:03, Lily Gabel was 62nd in 22:04 and Lesli Cuatlacuatl was 63rd in 22:06.

Kaster, a sophomore, moved up seven places in the standings and shaved nearly a minute off her conference time from a year ago.

“My goal was to get under 17, which I did,” she said.

She credited the fast field for helping her improve her time.

“Normally, I don’t start fast enough, so I tried to go out faster,” she said.

Pleasant Valley, the top-ranked team in Class 4A, won the team title with 16 points, one point off a perfect score. Kaley Ciluffo won the 4,000-meter race in 14:28, leading a 1-2-3-4-6 finish for the Spartans. Mahnee Watts of runner-up Bettendorf broke up the PV contingent.



MISSISSIPPI ATHLETIC CONFERENCE MEET

Crow Creek Park, Bettendorf

GIRLS

4,000 meters

Team standings

1. Pleasant Valley 16; 2. Bettendorf 47; 3. Davenport Assumption 65; 4. Muscatine 147; 5. North Scott 160; 6. Davenport West 182; 7. Davenport Central 185; 8. Davenport North 192; 9. Clinton 261; 10. Burlington 272.

Individual leaders

1. Kaley Ciluffo (PV) 14:28; 2. McKenzie Yanek (PV) 14:33; 3. Maddie Reynolds (PV) 14:41; 4. Addie Royer (PV) 14:57; 5. Mahnee Watts (Bet) 14:59; 6. Ali Oppel (PV) 15:02; 7. Anna Peer (Bet) 15:07; 8. Isabella Blackman (Bet) 15:18; 9. Elizabeth Mallon (DA) 15:35; 10. Claire Schwarz (PV) 15:41; 11. Danielle Moore (DA) 15:48; 12. Molly Gilchrist (DA) 15:51; 13. Abby Sears (Bet) 15:55; 14. Lauren Young (Bet) 15:57; 15. Anne Leners (PV) 16:01.

CLINTON — 21. Kim Kaster 16:36; 55. Shelby Weets 19:29; 60. Yissel Lopez-Ruiz 21:03; 62. Lily Gabel 22:04; 63. Lesli Cuatlacuatl 22:06.

Clinton did not have freshman/sophomore or junior varsity runners.



BOYS

5,000 meters

Team standings

1. Pleasant Valley 27; 2. Burlington 50; 3. Davenport Central 96; 4. Muscatine 110; 5. Clinton 163; 6. Bettendorf 166; 7. Davenport West 177; 8. Davenport North* 231; 9. Davenport Assumption 231; 10. North Scott 238.

* — Won tiebreaker for eighth.

Individual leaders

1. Caleb Drake (PV) 16:03; 2. Emmanuel Marcos-Teles (C) 16:13; 3. David Zimmer (PV) 16:32; 4. Bennett Luedtke (M) 16:35; 5. Colin Ensminger (B) 16:40; 6. Sam McElhiney (PV) 16:40; 7. Steven Kruse (Bur) 16:41; 8. Andrew Dixon (PV) 16:45; 9. Ben Stelk (PV) 16:46; 10. Jared Torrance (Bur) 16:50; 11. Tyler Henson (Bet) 16:50; 12. Jacob Huber (Bur) 16:52; 13. Mason Tope (DC) 17:02; 14. Rane Nichols (DW) 17:08; 15. Matthew Smith (DC) 17:08.

CLINTON — 2. Marcos-Teles 16:13; 26. Nathan Schroeder 17:56; 42. Jon Cady 18:36; 45. Bret Determan 18:43; 48. Cole Stuedemann 18:47; 51. Jeremy Mooney 18:54; 54. Dustin Ewalt 19:00.

JUNIOR VARSITY

Team standings

1. Pleasant Valley 27; 2. Burlington 61; 3. Davenport Central 103; 4. Bettendorf 108; 5. Davenport Assumption 108; 6. Muscatine 161; 7. Clinton 175; 8. Davenport North 200; 9. Davenport West 246; 10. North Scot 294.

Winner — Daniel Rodriguez (PV) 17:49.

CLINTON — 17. Hunter Genco 19:16; 20. John Gunderson 19:38; 43. Cody Nolan 20:42; 45. Curtis Ilg 20:47; 50. Brandon Burkhart 21:03; 53. Jeremy Regenwether 21:23; 57. Nolan Kenney 21:44.

FRESHMAN-SOPHOMORE

Team standings

1. Pleasant Valley 31; 2. Bettendorf 38; 3. Muscatine 96; 4. Davenport Central 108; 5. Davenport Assumption 127; 6. Burlington 162; 7. Clinton 213; 8. Davenport West 221; 9. North Scott 236.

Individual winner — Karson Sommer (PV) 17:19.

CLINTON — 19. Noah Buikema 19:15; 38. Bryce Mooney 20:44; 43. Dan Shaw 21:41; 55. Matt Mellen 23:02; 58. Doniyor Yusupov 24:14.