By Mark Schafer | The News-Review
FORT DODGE – Managing expectations when the attention is on can often be one of the hardest things to do.
For the English Valleys girls cross country team, there was nothing but high expectations for them going into Saturday’s class 1A State meet at Lakeside Municipal golf course in Fort Dodge.
The Bears were able to manage expectations as best they could even though none of the girls runners felt like they had their best run on Saturday.
“We ran well today, a few girls had their season best runs, but we didn’t have complete season best runs like what we would have wanted,” said Luke Caster, the head cross country coach for the English Valleys team. “We competed well, and I told the girls that getting top-8 was kind of my goal for the team and being able to get eighth in the state is awesome. Not a lot of teams get to where we are and place that high. With what we battled this year with injuries and other things, to get back here and get to that point, I’m very proud of them.”
Overall, the Bears finished eighth as a team. They finished with 207 points, tying them with Collins-Maxwell, but because the sixth place finisher was higher for the Bears, they took the eighth spot. South Winneshiek won the class 1A team title with 125 points.
Even in the race itself, adversity seemed to attract itself to the Bears. Unlike some of the other meets when the Bears girls were able to clump together, at Saturday’s meet, the girls were more spread out. That didn’t panic the girls as they each ran their own pace and made their charges late in the race.
Leading the way was Anna Luers who finished 42nd overall with a time of 20:37.1.
“She definitely gets the high places, which has helped our score all season long,” Caster said. “Anna is the pace sitter for our team, where the girls can see where she is and match her pace as much as they can. She does a good job of pushing everyone in practice. She is everything you want to see out of a leader.”
Addison Achenbach finished 75th overall with a time of 21:25.9. Kaylynn Caster was 90th overall with a time of 21:52. 6. Aubrey Achenbach was 92nd overall with a time of 21:55. Kaylee Frazier was 114th overall with a time of 22:29.8, a season best for the senior. Kailor Lown was 123rd with a time of 22:46.
“We will return five of the six girls, and that’s the fun part of the team,” Caster said. “We have a lot of girls that always challenge themselves for that second place on our team. The girls have never been afraid of hard work, and this is where it all pays off. At this State meet.”
Isaac Frazier fights through hydration issues to finish 68th
English Valleys sophomore Isaac Frazier tried to use lessons from last year to propel him in the standings.
“I felt pretty good in the race, although I probably should have hydrated a little more before the race,” Frazier said, nearly out of breath after the race, while munching on a pickle and drinking pickle juice. “Oh well, you can’t change the past.”
Despite feeling under hydrated for the race, Frazier was able to run his way to a 68th place finish with a time of `17:49.5.
“It just felt nice to be on a nice, fluffy course,” Frazier commented on the plentiful grass found at the Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge. “This type of grass really lets you get plenty of traction.”
At the start of the race nothing seemed to be holding Frazier back. He used the puffy grass to run hard and stay with the main pack through about the first mile. Then he started to fade back.
“I was having a little trouble hanging in my position, because I started the race real hard and real fast,” Fraizier said. “The wind was really bad too, on some of the parts of the course where you curve back, you could just feel the wind almost stop you in your tracks.”
The wind, combined with the pace of the first mile combined to tire Frazier out a little more quickly than he was expecting. In the end Frazier would finish 68th overall with a time of 17:49.5.
“I am really happy with being able to come here two years in a row,” Frazier said. “I wouldn’t be able to return here without the help of my coach and my teammates. I owe them a lot.”
