The Eagle Grove Eagle boys and girls cross country teams headed to Dike-New Hartford on Thursday, Oct. 21, to compete in the State Qualifier meet.
“The state qualifying meet is always a major meet for us, as it represents our culmination of a season of work but also a summer of running. Eagle Grove has a long proud tradition of success at the state meet and it is something that we embrace. This season we ran at Dike which is a great course and a well run meet, but it is also against some tough competition. This meet had 7 ranked teams and some quality individuals so our competition was stout,” said Coach Ben Demuth.
The boys team was led by junior Drake Weland who finished in 13th Place for the Eagles. His overall time was 17:26.72 with his average mile being 5:36.9. This was good enough for him to advance on to the State meet which will be held at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge on Saturday, October 30 starting at 11:15 a.m.
The top three teams at the meet were Waukon, Oelwein, and Jesup. The EGHS varsity boys team finished in 10th Place overall with a score of 265 and a total time of 1:35:07. Their average time per runner was 19:02. Sophomore Noah Thul was the second runner in for Eagle Grove, finishing in 52nd Place with a time of 18:47.03. Freshman Dylan Beck followed in 63rd Place with a time of 19:26.80. Freshman Zach Hogrefe finished 68th in 19:38.53, followed closely in 69th Place by senior Josue Castro in 19:46.97. Finishing in 71st Place was freshman Zabdi Castro in 19:48.04 followed by senior Jensen Cooper in 80th Place in 20:28.13.
“I felt that the guys handled themselves in a manner that is representative of that tradition of EGXC, and while we did not qualify as a team we had everyone compete to their best ability and run their season best time, and some it was their best time ever,” added Demuth. “We also return five of the seven runners and this excites me as the guys were hungry and excited to see what could happen and what needs to be done for the future. We will miss the leadership of our seniors, it is always bittersweet as they are great young men who will go on and do great things in their lives, but are done running for the program. Jaden, Jensen, Alexander, Josue, Issac and Cael are all tremendous young men. We often talk about how it takes serious determination to be a distance runner and not everyone can do it, or do it at a level that allows them to be successful, and all of these young men were able to take on that challenge and will be better men because of it. As their coach I am so proud of who they are and where they will go in life.”
