Cole Millikin wins State qualifier race
By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
OTTUMWA – When it came time to prove what they could do, five of the local runners proved just how fast they were.
Although all of their journeys to the top of the standings were just a little bit different.
Cole Millikin, the senior for Pekin had one of the easier paths to the front. Early on Millikin joined teammate Lane Fariss at the lead of the pack. After the first lap Fariss started to fade and Millikin easily passed his teammate. Once he was out front Millikin never looked back.
The senior would continue to lead the rest of the race, eventually winning with a time of 16:47.8.
Just behind Millikin wasn’t a teammate, but rather another local runner who was trying to make a statement.
Sigourney senior troy Klett was trying to chase down Millikin, but the lead that Millikin had was just too much.
“I let Cole get out a little bit too far during the second mile, there, and I wasn’t able to catch him for the rest of the race,” Klett said. “I know I need to hang on for the second mile a little bit when it comes to the race next Saturday.”
In order to finish second Klett was able to use his big strength to get past a few Pekin runners that had formed at the top of the pack.
The Wildwood Park cross country course is one that features a big uphill portion to start the race, before descending into the rest of the course. Klett, who is more of a downhill runner, was able to use the down hill portion of the race to get into position.
“I made up a lot of ground on the downhill portions of the race,” Klett said. “I’ve always felt that I am really good on the downhills. That’s where I made up most of my ground.”
Klett finished second with a time of 17:13, which qualifies him to his second-straight State cross country meet. Klett finished 78th at the State meet last season.
Three other local runners would finish in the top-10 on Thursday. Lane Fariss would fade to fifth overall in the race with a time of 17:29.6. Teammate Mason Dahlstrom finished sixth with a time of 17:39. those times qualified both of them to the State meet.
Dahlstrom ran at the State meet last year, finishing in 83rd.
English Valleys sophomore Isaac Fraizer would finish eighth overall with a time of 17:46.3, which qualified him to a second-straight State meet as well.
“I’d like to see him improve from last year,” English Valleys coach, Luke Caster said about Fraizer. “Going to the State meet as a freshman is not an easy thing to do. Now that he has that experience under his belt, I think he has continued to press and work hard, and I think it will all pay off next week when we run at Fort Dodge.”
As a freshman Frazier finished 90th at the State meet last year.
The Pekin boys team finished with 69 total points, and second overall in the team standings, which qualifies their whole team to the State meet.
Landon Fariss finished 28th overall with a time of 19:38. Brody Sobaski was 31st overall with a time of 19:56. Clayton Harvey was 36th and Hayden Miller was 78th overall.
The class 1A State boys cross country race will begin at 2:45 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1 in Fort Dodge.
