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MUSCATINE, Iowa – Using a chip timing system for the first time, Muscatine’s cross country teams slogged its way to third- and fifth-place finishes, respectively, at the Muscatine Invitational on Tuesday.

The chip system will be a preview for next week’s Mississippi Athletic Conference meet, also to be held at Discovery Park in Muscatine.

Chris Foxen’s boys team had a pair of top-10 finishes to take third place with 56 points. Burlington captured the team title with 34 points, followed by Clinton with 49.

“Our No. 5 kid, Dalend Pearson, called in sick today with the flu,” Foxen said. “I think James Luth came in and did a good job in his place.

“We’ll see Clinton again with our team assembled like today at districts.”

Jason Kenyon paced the Muskies with a fourth-place finish in 18 minutes, 9 seconds.

“I was not real concerned with place,” Kenyon said. “It is a difficult course, and I wanted to run for time and how I feel. I ran just over 18 minutes, so it was decent. It was better than last year.”

The individual boys’ title went to Burlington’s Marshall Moyer, who covered the course in 17:20.

Rain overnight left the course soggy in some places and a brisk wind out of the west made running difficult at times.

“It was better than I thought,” Kenyon said. “Last week at Clinton, it was muddy and I thought it was going to be the same, but it wasn’t. It was nice that the rain stopped, too.”

Teammate Conor Dolan finished three places back in seventh in 18:30.

“Aw man, I’m tired,” Dolan said after the race. “The course is hilly and a thigh-burner. I think we did well overall. Today I ran more for time and I was trying to catch a couple of guys. There was a guy from (Davenport) West I wanted to keep up with, but he beat me in the end. I’m looking forward to racing him again next week.”

Reid Chandler ( 14th), Ryan Fick (15th) and Kevin Hughes (16th) rounded out the team scoring for the Muskies.

Kenyon and Dolan liked the chip timing, in which a rectangular chip that is half the size of a credit card was attached to the runner’s shoes.

“It was pretty cool,” Kenyon said. “We’re using them again next week at conference, so it was practice to get used to it. It’s nice to get exact times and everything.”

Dolan added, “It was a lot nicer. Times will be more accurate this year.”

In the girls’ race, Muscatine’s top finisher, Lindsay Brunson, was passed moments before the finish line to miss out on a medal and finish 11th. Muscatine was fifth with 88 points, but was just 10 points out of second and three points separated the third-, fourth- and fifth-place teams.

“I’m pleased with how the girls ran,” Muscatine girls coach Tim Armstrong said. “If we move up a place or two on each runner, we would have been second, which is encouraging. We’re going to talk about that tomorrow. If we move up a couple places here and there, it makes all the difference.”

Brunson was only two seconds behind 10th-place finisher Halima Meisner of Burlington. Only the top 10 finishers receive a medal.

“Darn it,” Brunson said when she heard she finished out of the medal because of the last-second pass. “I didn’t know she was right behind me. I kept listening for the chip (beep), but I had no idea she was that close. She ran a good race.”

Bettendorf won the girls’ race with 48 points. The individual winner was Clinton’s Grace Shemwell in 15:42.

The second Muskie across the finish line in the girls’ race was Sam Kistler, who took 15th in 17:26.

“The ground was soft and wet and it was cold and windy,” Kistler said. “It didn’t change anything though. My time was good – it was my fastest time all year. The conditions didn’t bother me. It was just the beeping (from the chips). They were always going off at the half-mile, mile … all you hear is a solid beep.

“But it pushes you because you hear it and want to go harder.”

Also scoring for Muscatine were Dixie Cruz (18th), Rachel LoBianco (21st) and Megan Sweere (23rd).

“Bettendorf is ranked in the top 10,” Armstrong said, “and Clinton has two runners and Davenport Central had a runner ranked in the top 25 in 4A. We ran into some tough competition tonight. It’s a preview for the conference meet.”

Muscatine Invitational

Varsity Boys Team Scoring

1. Burlington 34; 2. Clinton 49; 3. Muscatine 56; 4. Davenport West 109; 5. Davenport Central 113; 6. Bettendorf 139.

Top 5 individuals – 1. Marshall Moyer (Burlington) 17:20; 2. Justin McCarthy (Burlington) 17:29; 3. Evan Tuisl (Clinton) 18:02; 4. Jason Kenyon (Muscatine) 18:09; 5. Kaleb Sterler (Burlington) 18:17.

Muscatine (56) – 4. Jason Kenyon 18:09; 7. Conor Dolan 18:30; 14. Reid Chandler 19:02; 15. Ryan Fick 19:04; 16. Kevin Hughes 19:11; 21. James Luth 19:43.

Varsity Girls Team Scoring

1. Bettendorf 48; 2. Davenport West 78; 3. Davenport Central 86; 4. Burlington 87; 5. Muscatine 88; 6. Clinton 95.

Top 5 individuals – 1. Grace Shemwell (Clinton) 15:42; 2. Kate Kaster (Clinton) 15:56; 3. Becca Wilder (Dav. Central) 16:11; 4. Dana Ewan (Bettendorf) 16:17; 5. Bricelyn Schultz (Bettendorf) 16:43.

Muscatine (88) – 11. Lindsay Brunson 17:07; 15. Sam Kistler 17:26; 18. Dixie Cruz 17:38; 21. Rachel LoBianco 17:46; 23. Megan Sweere 17:56; 29. Staci Eversmeyer 18:33; 31. Hannah Peck 18:48.

JV Boys Team Scoring

1. Muscatine 28; 2. Bettendorf 46; 3. Davenport West 56.

Top 5 individuals – 1. Ryan Ellenberg (Dav. West) 19:57; 2. Jacob Harper (Bettendorf) 20:07; Mitchael Moreno (Dav. Central) 20:16; 4. Drake Fidler (Burlington) 20:26; 5. Austin Czerwiec (Muscatine) 20:36.

Muscatine (28) – 3. Austin Czerwiec 20:36; 4. Skylar Kochuyt 20:42; 6. Chris Dotseth 20:53; 7. Caleb Mann 21:02; 8. Duncan Eichelberger 21:10’ 11. Zach Minder 22:08; 12. Miles Allison 22:08. Also – 33. Erik Rein 23:21; 35. Josh Weaton 23:30; 38. Evan Price 24:24; 41. Dan Paulsen 24:29; 42. Abel Canahui 24:38; 44. Rico Pena 25:08; 46. Luke Harden 25:46; 47. Giles Joslyn 27:05. Zack Watson, no time.

JV Girls Team Scoring

1. Bettendorf 38; 2. Davenport West 56; 3. Muscatine 70; 4. Burlington 94; 5. Davenport Central 107.

Top 5 individuals – 1. Mackenzie Eland (Burlington) 17:10; 2. Ali Schuetz (Bettendorf) 18:13; 3. Ashlee Venema (Bettendorf) 18:16; 4. Caitlin McCullough (Dav. Central) 18:16; 5. Kelsey McCreight (Dav. West) 18:26.

Muscatine (70) – 7. Desi Darting 18:31; 10. Alex Chamberlain 18:46; 12. Yolanda Taylor 18:47; 19. Ofelia Leza 19:25; 22. Jess Coder 19:41; 25. Natalie White 19:51; 27. Maggie LoBianco 20:00. Also – 34. Emily Summers 20:04; 40. Rebeca Ayala 20:28; 41. KellieAnn Burton 20:31; 42. Caitlin York 20:33; 47. Marci Paca 20:46; 50. Hailey Oepping 21:15; 54. Emily Stych 22:18; 56. Ashlee Estabrook 22:19; 60. Natalie Fillmore 22:46; 63. Anna Snyder 23:07. (No Fresh-Soph race was run for girls).

Fresh-Soph Boys Team Scoring

1. Davenport Central 27; 2. Bettendorf 68; 3. Clinton 83; 4. Burlington 103; 5. Muscatine 112; 6. Davenport West 118.

Top 5 individuals – 1. Mitch Parker (Bettendorf) 2. Dominick Shultz (Dav. Central) 19:05; 3. Scott McKillip (Dav. Central) 19:23; 4. Tim Chapman (Dav. Central) 19:47; 5. Alex Pogue (Dav. Central) 19:53.

Muscatine (112) – 10. Eli Price 20:34; 11. David Meyer 20:34; 15. Noah Salmonson 20:51; 36. Alex Edwards 23:07; 40. Ryan Lee 26:00.