{
  "id": 8147206,
  "title": "Prep cross-country: Raining on their parade",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/18/prep-cross-country-raining-on-their-parade",
  "topic": "culture",
  "section": "Culture",
  "published": "2026-09-18T01:46:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Yahoo Sports",
    "slug": "yahoo-sports",
    "url": "https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/prep-cross-country-raining-parade-014600873.html"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Weather played a major role in the Ottumwa High School cross-country teams' recent outing at the Oskaloosa Invitational. Rain and mud plagued both the boys' and girls' races, making the already challenging hill course even more difficult to navigate. Sophomore Sophie Schmidt of Ottumwa managed to finish 14th in the varsity girls race, despite losing her shoes due to the muddy terrain. Coach Kristen Mitchell expressed enthusiasm about the home meet despite the soggy conditions, emphasizing the importance of family and senior night for the seniors. While some runners struggled with the rain for the first time, others like Albia's Mady Montgomery seemed to embrace the challenging conditions, finishing 5th overall with a personal-best time. Despite the tough conditions, Ottumwa managed to finish 6th in the boys' race and 7th in the girls' race, demonstrating their toughness and ability to compete even in difficult circumstances.",
  "summary": "OSKALOOSA — Mother Nature is running the Ottumwa High School cross-country team, and the rest of the athletic department, through its paces this week. On Tuesday, both the Bulldog girls and boys had to deal with tougher conditions at the Oskaloosa Invitational brought on by consistent rain throughout the past several days. Running on the already hilly course at Edmundson Park, runners in both ...",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}