Our Yesterdays

The Pekin cross country girls’ team traveled to Fort Dodge on Saturday for the state meet. The team was rated sixth in Class 1A. Megan Raap was rated ninth out of 20 in Class 1A. Megan Raap finished 13th, Kari Spilman was 42nd, Megan Meeker was 75th, Jenny Jagen was 79th, Mary Raap was 87th, and Michelle Youngkrantz was 96th.

Nov. 1, 2001 Clarion

The Pekin Cross Country teams went to the State meet at Fort Dodge on Saturday. The girls’ team tied for sixth place. Individual places were Megan Raap 15th, Sarah Johnston 17th, Kari Spilman 61st, Amanda Brain 90th, Stef Chambers 105th, and Rachel Pfeifer 115th. The girls ran with 120 other runners. The Pekin boys’ team had one runner, Jared Burns. Burns finished 22nd out of 150 runners.

Oct. 31, 2002 Clarion

For the first time in six years, both Pekin cross country teams advanced to the state meet in Fort Dodge. For the girls’ team this makes their third straight appearance and their eighth in the last nine years. The Pekin girls turned in an outstanding performance at the District meet as they placed second to Iowa City Regina. The Panthers, who were ranked fifth statewide, were only ten points behind fourth ranked Regina. Sarah Johnston placed second in 15:00, followed by Megan Raap in fourth in 15:03, Sam McKay eighth in 15:35, Monica Johnston 18th in 16:09, Amanda Brain ran 16:46 and Maria Johll ran 17:33. The Pekin boys’ team will also be running Saturday at Fort Dodge. They placed third with a very solid team effort. Kevin Heisdorffer placed 14th in 16:36, Mark Johll 16th in 16:38, Eric Willhoit 22nd in 17:01, David Lankford 33rd in 17:23, Jerry Gorman 36th in 17:30, Tyler Brown 53rd in 18:28, and Kade Hammes ran 18:56 for 62nd.

October 30, 2003 Clarion

Last Thursday the Pekin cross country teams headed up to Iowa City for their District meet. This is the same course they ran three weeks ago. The girls placed fourth with 130 points and the boys placed sixth with 189. Sarah Johnston placed third (15:31) and gets to run next Saturday at the state meet. Also runner for the girls’ team were Monica Johnston 18th, Brittany Millikin 30th, Whitney Wright 33rd, Maria Johll 46th, Sam McKay 49th, and Kayla Rouw 70th. Eric Willhoit led the boys’ team, placing 19th in 18:04. Also running was Jerry Gorman 35th, Matthew Swanson 37th, Greg Meacham 43rd, Adam Ries 55th, Kade Hammes 70th, and Tyler Brown 77th.

Nov. 6, 2003 Clarion

Sarah Johnson, daughter of Scott and Susie Johnston, placed tenth in the State Cross Country meet held in Fort Dodge Saturday, Nov. 1, 2003. Sarah had a time of 15:27.

Nov. 4, 2004 Clarion

The Pekin cross country teams ran exceptionally well at the state meet in Fort Dodge on October 30. The girls’ team finished tenth and the boys’ team finished 11th. Girls’ results: Sarah Johnston 10th, Amanda Mosinski 50th, Monica Johnston 60th, Desiree McNamer 82nd, and Brittany Millikin 96th. Boys’ results: Matthew Swanson 30th, Adam Bennett 41st, Jerry Gorman 70th, Adam Ries 110th, John Kennelly 113th, Felix Kristl 130th, and Jordan Wright 131st.

Nov. 3, 2005 Clarion

The Pekin cross country teams participated in the state meet on Oct. 29 in Fort Dodge. The boys’ team finished eighth and the girls’ team finished 12th. Jerry Gorman received 31st, Matthew Swanson 40th, Adam Bennett 41st, Kaleb Watson 103rd, Alex Chambers 108th, and Jeremy Thornburg 71st. For the girls’ Audrey Cooley was 86th, Desiree McNames 102nd, Amanda Mosinski 117th, and Sam McKay 125th.

Nov. 9, 2006

The Pekin girls’ and boys’ cross country teams recently completed in the state cross country meet. The girls’ team placed ninth and the boys’ 15th. Emma Nelson ran for 38th, followed by Alison Shipley in 81st. Desiree McNamer was 85th, Annie Jones 96th, Karree Wolcott 98th, Audrey Cooley 113th, and Ashley Morales 121st. Mathew Swanson finished 36th, followed by Jeremy Tosh in 86th, Jack Lastovetski 105th, Garry Sievers 109th, Jeramy Ingle 120th, Nevan Lew 125th, Albert Newman 129th. Pekin is one of only a few schools in the state to send both teams to the state meet for three years in a row.

Nov. 1, 2007 Clarion

The Pekin girls’ cross country team ran very well in the state meet at Fort Dodge last Saturday, placing ninth in Class 2A. Individual finishes for Pekin were 24th Kristin Freeman, 27th Emma Nelson, 49th Allison Shipley, 51st Kaitlin Spilman, 55th Dallas Grajalva, 79th Annie Jones, and 92nd Jessi Martin. “In all the years I’ve coached cross country this is the first time I have had five girls run under 17 minutes. This year we moved up to Class 2A and it was very competitive. I am very pleased as to what these young ladies did this year,” said Coach Eidahl.

Nov. 6, 2008

Saturday, Nov. 1 was a memorable one for Coach Davis Eidahl and his girls’ cross country team. They became the first State Girls Cross Country Champions for Pekin. The team had been number three in the state rankings over the past few weeks. But as Coach Eidahl says, “these girls are special.” They had a quiet confidence in their ability according to assistant coach Sarah Wright, the girls were talking about winning it all from the second day of practice. This close knit group of ten girls had a very successful year and winning the state championship put the finishing touches on it. Pekin was led by Celsey Conger who finished with a time of 14:59, which put her second in total time for girls running on a team and fifth overall. Other Pekin girls figuring in the team scoring were Brenna Conger 5th, Kaitlin Spilman 8th, Kristen Freeman 18th, Kayla Chandler 21st. Also running for Pekin were Emma Nelson 44th and Annie Jones 62nd.

The Pekin girls’ team came in third in the inaugural state meet in 1966, and were runner-up in both 1981 and 1982, as well as third in 1983.