Williamsburg, IA- Five of the six teams of the Southeast Conference (SEC) made the trip north to Williamsburg to participate in their State Qualifier and nine of our local runners were able to punch their ticket to Fort Dodge for the Class 3A state meet.
Girls’ Race
The youth of the field was on full display last night when nine of the first 15 finishers were underclassmen, including Mt. Pleasant’s Avery Fedler, who claimed the gold medal with a time of 18 minutes and 59 seconds, which was seven seconds faster than second place.
Last year, Quintrie Lee of Mt. Pleasant needed a little help to advance to the state meet. Not so much this season, as the sophomore clocked a time of 20 minutes and 8 seconds, which was the 9th fastest time of the field. The Panthers finished in 7th place overall with 152 points.
Fort Madison had been a strong team for most of the season and seemed a lock to advance as a team; however, the Bloodhounds fell just outside the top three with a 4th place collection of 116 points. Williamsburg, Ballard, and Center Point-Urbana advanced as teams.
Nevertheless, Avery Rump managed another trip to state as she took 6th place with a time of 19 minutes and 25 seconds. Joining as part of the SEC was two Demons, Iris Dahl as she finished in 12th place and Emma Horak as she claimed 14th place.
Boys’ Race
The Fort Madison boys’ team displayed their prowess at the SEC meet, but did not hold that same spark in Williamsburg, despite having four of their five runners finish in the top 20, the Bloodhounds missed out on qualifying as team by 12 points, snatching 4th place.
Still, Riley Tripp, who finished in 12th place, and Hunter Wiegand, who grabbed 14th place will run at the state meet for the Bloodhounds.
The most surprising result of the night was Mt. Pleasant’s Silas Hulett. After taking 9th at the conference meet, Hulett was the fastest of the SEC runners as he clocked a time of 16 minutes and 44 seconds, which was good enough for—aptly—9th place.
The Panthers took 9th place as a team with 258 points with Ben Leishman snatching 49th place.
Washington’s Andrew Rees handed in an 11th place time of 16 minutes and 46 seconds, making him the only Demon to qualify for the state meet, as the team took 5th place overall.
Up Next
The Class 3A girls’ and boys’ meet is set to run on Friday, October 31st, in Fort Dodge with the girls running first at 2 pm, followed by the boys at 2:45 pm.