Our Yesterdays

The Pekin girls’ cross country team went to Fort Dodge on Saturday with one thing on their minds — to repeat last year’s state title. Their challenge was that they were moved up a class in competition this year, from Class 1A to 2A — they would be the smallest Class 2A school competing at Fort Dodge. The second-ranked Panthers just missed a second state title by three points. Their score of 60 placed them second in Class 2A to three-time consecutive state title winner Union, who finished with a team score of 57. “They were disappointed when they found out they finished second,” said Coach Eidahl. “After a while, it set in what they had accomplished though, and they were excited. When you have four girls finish in the fifteens, and four girls place in the top 12 in team standings, most times you win.” If Pekin’s team wouldn’t have been moved to 2A they would have easily won the state title again. Their team score would have won them the Class 1A title and the Class 3A title. Celsey conger was the Panthers top runner with a time of 15:26, which earned her seventh place overall. Kaitlin Spilman was 11th, Brenna Conger was 15th, and Maleaha Earnest was 16th. Kristen Freeman finished 37th, Annie Jones was 53rd, and Emma Nelson was 76th.

Nov. 4, 2010 Clarion

The Panther girls’ dominate the Class 1A Championship meet: After entering the season ranked number one, the Panther girls’ cross country team was dropped to number three in the Class 1A team rankings a week before the state championship meet. In a dominating performance Saturday at Fort Dodge, they’ve proven how wrong the rankings were. Pekin had three girls in the top 10 — Celsey Conger and Brenna Conger finished second and third individually, and Kaitlin Spilman finished sixth. Also running for Pekin, Maleaha Earnest came in 26th and Samantha Wright finished 34th. Hannah Robison finished 71st and Brandy Millikin finished 82nd. This marks the third year in a row that the Pekin team has placed at the state meet.

Phillip Laux was the lone runner in the state meet for the Pekin boys’ team. In a field of 129 runners, the Pekin junior finished in an impressive 17th place.

Nov. 3, 2011 Clarion

The number-one ranked Panthers came home Saturday night with their third Class 1A championship trophy in four years after winning the state meet with a team score of 75. “When you start the season being ranked number one, stay number one all season, and then win the state title, that’s quite a feat for the girls,” said Coach Eidahl. Celsey Conger led the Pekin runners, finishing third overall with a time of 14:42. Brenna Conger was the second Panther in, taking 14th in 15:20. The next three runners came in within seconds of each other. Maleaha Earnest was 35th, Samantha Wright was 45th, and Brandy Millikin was 48th. McKenna Gambell finished 89th and Monica Cooley was 113th.

After getting beat by Earlham at the district meet a little over a week ago, the Pekin boys were able to turn it around and get Earlham by one point at the state meet on Saturday to take a 14th place team finish. Chase Earnest led the Panthers, finishing 85th overall in a time of 18:19. Cade Millikin was next in for Pekin, taking 91st overall. The next three runners were all close, led by Colton Dunning in 97th followed by Tim Murray in 102nd and Stratton Bond coming in 103rd. “For a group of boys who weren’t supposed to do much this year, they’ve proven that hard work pays off,” stated Eidahl.

This marked the first time in seven years that Pekin had a boys’ team in the state race.

Nov. 1, 2012 Clarion

For the fifth year in a row, the Pekin girls’ cross country team ended their trip to the state meet by standing as a team on the champion’s deck and receiving a trophy. After winning the Class 1A title the last two years, the Panthers took second place Saturday, only 16 points behind Griswold, in head coach Davis Eidahl’s 50th season of coaching. Freshman Gwynne Wright led the Panthers Saturday, finishing fourth individually in a time of 14:39. Senior Maleaha Earnest finished her high school cross country career with a 23rd place finish. Fellow freshmen Taylor Lock and Sloan Reighard also scored for Pekin, Lock came in 28th while Reighard was 48th. Junior Samantha Wright battled back from an injury earlier in the season to score for Pekin in the meet, finishing 58th. Freshman Peyton Lock finished 66th while junior Hannah Robison rounded out the Pekin runners in 76th.

Freshman Austin Fariss was Pekin’s only runner in the boys’ race. Fariss ran a hard race, finishing 30th in a time of 17:20.

Nov. 7, 2013 Clarion

After finishing second last year in Class 1A, the Panthers returned to their winning ways on Saturday, taking the Class 1A title for the third time in four years with a team score of 81 points. Sophomore Gwynne Wright led the team, finishing seventh individually in a time of 15:17. Freshman Shea Dahlstrom completed her first year of high school running with a 15th place finish. Sophomore Taylor Lock placed 21st, and fellow sophomores Tayler Winn and Sloan Reighard came in 51st and 54th respectively. Also running for the Panthers were Payton Lock and Samantha Wright.

The Panther boys made it to state as a team for the second time in three years. Sophomore Austin Fariss led the Panthers with an 18th place finish in a time of 17:11. Competing with Fariss on the team were Malcolm Myers 76th, Clayton Essary 93rd, Ryan Millikin 122nd, Avery Bennett 123rd, Christian Little 124th, and Nate Kielkopf 126th.