It was a successful State Qualifying meet for the Lion girls on Oct.18 at Veteran’s Memorial Golf Course in Clear Lake.
At the gun, the girls took off, slower than previous meets and Addison Doughan ran behind Amellia Roe, the top runner from Decorah.
After the first mile, Doughan sat comfortably in second, while throughout the field, the Lions were mixed up and it looked like the Lions may finish outside of the top three.
By the second mile, the girls were making their moves and on the final stretch, Doughan overtook Roe, Anna Feuerbach moved into fourth and Rebekah Steinbron advanced into 13th.
The Lions had conserved their energy and made the moves at the right time, something head coach Tyler Havens had been working towards all season.
“My big message with them is making sure we stick to our race plan and race smart and they really took that to heart this week,” said Havens. “I thought we were perfect for the mile and I loved how we moved up throughout the race and we were at our best place at the end where it matters.”
Their best place just happened to be first place, led by Doughan who took first in a time of 19:07.2.
“It’s such an honor, we’ve always had this goal as a team. At the beginning of the season we wrote a checklist that we really wanted to achieve,” said Doughan. “I went into this race having a plan. I usually went out fast and used all my energy up, but today I went into it knowing I’d have a 6:05 first mile, which I know might have tricked everybody, but it’s a super good plan and it helped me at the end.”
Being able to run with the team at State is an honor for Doughan who was overjoyed at the end of the race.
“It’s such an honor. Making it as a team is so much more impactful and memory fulfilling than making it individually,” said Doughan. “While it’s always nice making it individually, having a team push you and warm-up with you is such an amazing and fun experience.”
Anna Feuerbach moved through the field for the Lions to finish fourth overall with a time of 19:55.2 and Rebekah Steinbron took 13th overall with a time of 20:48.1.
Saylor Schmitt finished 20th overall with a time of 21:32.0, followed by Reese Brownlee in 25th with a time of 21:47.6.
Lauren Englin finished 36th with a time of 22:23.4 and Alexis Hauge finished 40th with a time of 22:33.1 to round out the Lion runners.
State Cross Country is familiar territory for the Lions, having sent girls before, while also running the course at the North Central Conference meet, in Fort Dodge.
“I thought that was big for us this year, getting to host conference there and as a team we were there last year. Saylor Schmitt is the only one not on that team, but she got to run at conference so every girl has seen that course,” said Havens. “Addie has seen it one extra time on top of that, so we are very familiar with it and the state meet experience.”
The girls will run in Fort Dodge on Saturday, Oct. 28 at 2 p.m. at Kennedy Park.
Girls Team
Standings
1 Clear Lake 63
2 Decorah 75
3 ADM Adel 89
4 Waverly-Shell Rock 95
5 Carlisle 128
6 Nevada 159
7 West Delaware 190
8 Iowa Falls-Alden 202
9 Bondurant 231
10 H-D-CAL 249
11 Charles City 305
12 South Tama 332
Boys State Qualifying
While the girls saw a tremendous outcome and will be headed to State as a team, the boys were successful in their own right, despite not qualifying for the State meet.
The top three teams headed to Fort Dodge out of the boys side of the meet are Carlisle, South Tama and ADM Adel.
The Lions finished eighth overall and saw their top runner finish 19th, just outside of the top 15 individual qualifiers.
Gavin Roske, a freshman, was the top runner for the Lions, completing the course in a season best time of 17:38.5.
The youthfulness of the team has coach Havens excited for what the future holds for the Lions.
“We challenged them to see if they could beat West Delware today. That didn’t quite happen, but we finished eighth last year as well and second in the conference. To go out this year and win the conference with five in the top 10, an absolutely dominant performance, one of the best boys races I’ve ever seen. To come out today and be eighth again after losing our top five from last year and getting this younger group with some experience back, that was a really good year for us,” said coach Havens. “Not taking a step backwards when we were reloading that next group of guys is a big accomplishment. This freshmen class as a whole is pretty deep and we have some guys ahead of them too, some hungry guys like Owen Smith, who’s going to be a senior next year and he’s ready to have a good year on the track. He will be our best guy coming into next season and Gavin just missing out as a freshman is a great place to start, especially at 3A. I’m really proud of all of them.”
Roske was followed by senior Caleb Jones in 34th with a time of 18:15.2.
Isaac Smith finished the course in 18:26.7, which was good for 42nd, followed by Cael Stucky in 55th after finishing in 18:57.0.
Aiden Hippen, Luke Moore and Aiden Burness ran as a pack throughout the race and finished in 65th, 66th and 67th, respectively.
Hippen finished in a time of 19:23.1, while Moore finished in 19:26.3 and Burtness finished in a time of 19:36.4.
Boys Team Standings
1 Carlisle 57
2 South Tama 70
3 ADM Adel 76
4 Decorah 111
5 Charles City 125
6 Nevada 164
7 West Delaware 172
8 Clear Lake 213
9 Bondurant 234
10 Waverly-Shell Rock 236
11 Belmond 361
12 H-D-CAL 362
13 Iowa Falls-Alden 376
