Prep Cross Country- Classes 1A and 2A held their boys’ and girls’ state qualifying cross country meets last night and a couple of runners from our local schools earned a trip to the state meet in Fort Dodge.
Class 1A Pekin
Most of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference made the trip to Jefferson County with Pekin acting as the hosts and the boys’ team snuck past WACO to finish in 2nd place to qualify as a team, while the girls’ team had Chloe Glosser win the state qualifier with a time of 18 minutes and 31 seconds.
The WACO boys’ team was hoping to find a spot as a team qualifier, but injuries hobbled the Warriors, resulting in the team finishing in 3rd place, needing eight more points to clinch 2nd place.
Still, Locken Henderson clocked a 4th place time of 17 minutes and 22 seconds to lock in his spot as a state qualifier. Gavin Slagel just missed out on a spot, taking 12th place with a time of 18 minutes and 22 seconds.
Also finding a spot on the boys’ side was Danville’s Isaac Shinn, as the senior grabbed 9th place with a time of 17 minutes and 55 seconds.
Bowen Thomson of Winfield-Mt. Union and New London’s Zayden Lawerence took 29th and 30th place, respectively, leading their teams. Tanner Williams of Holy Trintiy Catholic claimed 39th place, while Will Parsons finished in 44th place.
On the girls’ side, WACO had two Warriors punch their ticket to the state meet with Josie Dykstra taking 4th place with a time of 20 minutes and 6 seconds, while Macie Carter just snuck inside the top 10 with a 9th place time of 20 minutes and 23 seconds.
Also finding a spot in the top 10 was Alaina Gourley’s time of 20 minutes and 19 seconds, which was good enough for 8th place. The Bears placed in 4th as a team with 114 points.
For individual finishers, Kenna Small of Wapello took 30th place, New London’s Irelynn Kelly claimed 55th place, and Ashlyn Bender of Winfield-Mt. Union grabbed 58th place.
Class 2A Regina Catholic
For the boys’ race, Chariton ran away with the team win, scoring only 27 points behind all five of their runners finding a spot in the top 10. Mediapolis also qualified as a team with 106 points.
Leading the charge for the Bulldogs was Simon Wendel’s bronze medal time of 16 minutes and 31 seconds and Will Schmidgall’s time of 17 minutes and 8 seconds.
Notre Dame/West Burlington’s Cavin Denney accomplished something only one other freshman did in the heat and that was qualify for the state meet. The Nike rounded out the top 15 with a time of 17 minutes and 35 seconds. The team finished in 7th place with 159 points.
Central Lee’s Austin Fogarty anchored the Hawks with a 30th place time of 18 minutes and 34 seconds. Central Lee took 10th place as a team.
On the girls’ side, Central Lee’s Aubree Bunnell was the first of our local runners to cross the line, as the Hawk grabbed 10th place with a time of 20 minutes and 56 seconds.
Joining her at the state meet will be another freshman from Notre Dame/West Burlington was Hannah Ritter. The Nike clocked a 12th place time of 21 minutes and 4 seconds.
Evie Schmidgall of Mediapolis finished in 32nd place to help anchor the Bulldogs.
As teams, Central Lee took 6th place and Mediapolis finished in 10th place.
Up Next
The Class 2A girls’ and boys’ state meet is scheduled for Friday, October 31st, with the girls’ running first at 10:30 am. The Class 1A boys’ and girls’ state meet will run on Saturday, November 1st, with the girls’ set to run at 2 pm.