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EV girls qualify for state
Heyne, Frazier qualify individually in the boys’ race
Southeast Iowa Union offers audio versions of articles using Instaread. Some words may be mispronounced.
IOWA CITY — The English Valleys girls’ cross-country team completed a season goal at the Class 1A state qualifying meet at the Iowa City Kickers Soccer Park Thursday.
That goal was qualifying for state as a team, which they did comfortably, taking first place by 47 points.
It is the first time since 2003 the Bears have qualified the girls’ team to the state meet.
“It was our goal at the beginning to make it to state,” English Valleys head coach Luke Caster said on this season. “They’ve been working really hard and putting in a lot of time. We did what we needed to do tonight.”
The Bears executed their plan effectively and moved up as the race progressed. Their top five finished in the top 11.
Anna Luers added another accomplishment to her freshman season, taking home the individual title. Luers trailed Beckman’s Madelyn Reiter in the first half of the race, but made a strong move in the second half and won by eight seconds.
Twins Addison and Aubrey Achenbach were part of the Bears’ pack, finishing fourth and 11th.
The twins qualified as individuals last year and are excited to have the whole team with them at state this season.
“It means so much getting to experience it with the team and doing it together,” Addison said.
“We’ve worked so hard for this moment and it paid off,” Aubrey said. “We wanted to get here (state) and that’s what we did.”
It was a clean sweep of the individual titles on the night for the Bears as Gage Heyne strolled to a comfortable victory in the boys’ race.
It was Heyne’s seventh win of the season.
“I got out strong and kept my position,” Heyne said. “I was not going to let them catch up and draft off me, so I just had to keep the lead.”
The English Valleys senior won by 12 seconds and has his sights set on bigger goals at the state meet. Heyne is one of several runners that will be in contention for the 1A individual title.
“To win you’re going to need to perfection,” Heyne said. “It’s going to be a toss-up, so I just have to go out there and give it my best effort.”
The surprise of the night was English Valleys’ Isaac Frazier who took the last individual qualifier spot, finishing 10th in the boys’ race.
Frazier was sitting in 12th going into the last portion of the race, knowing he needed to make a move to qualify.
“I was kind of losing hope as I was running out of energy,” Frazier said on how he felt near the end of the race. “But then I heard a bunch of support from all my teammates and everyone and I felt pretty motivated to try and get that last spot.”
Frazier, on the finishing stretch, held off two runners right behind him to claim 10th place.
“I think it a pretty big honor to go as a freshman too,” Frazier added.
Class 1A-2A will run state next Saturday in Fort Dodge at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.
GIRLS
Team Scores
1. English Valleys 28, 2. Danville 75, 3. I.C. Regina 81, 4. Dyersville Beckman 99, 5. Louisa-Muscatine 109, 6. Bellevue 135, 7. Lone Tree 142
Individual Results
Top 10: 1. Anna Luers (EV), 20:39.7; 2. Madelyn Reiter (Beckman), 20:47.9; 3. Alaina Gourley (Danville), 20.56.4; 4. Addison Achenbach (EV), 21:36.3; 5. Fiona McGill (L-M), 21:37.5; 6. Kayley Snowgren (VBC), 21:40.8; 7. Rylee Philips (VBC), 21:41.6; 8. Kaylynn Caster (EV), 21:48.4; 9. Kenzingten Scheckel (Bellevue), 21:49.8; 10. Kailor Lown (EV), 21:57.3
English Valleys (28): 1. Anna Luers, 20:39.7; 4. Addison Achenbach, 21:36.3; 8. Kaylynn Caster, 21:48.4; 10. Kailor Lown, 21:57.3; 11. Aubrey Achenbach, 22:03.4; 20. Kaylee Frazier, 23:13.2; 52. Emily Sieren, 26:34.8
BOYS
Team Scores
1. Danville 73, 2. Van Buren County 74, 3. Louisa-Muscatine 111, 4. Durant 128, 5. Dyersville Beckman 134, 6. I.C. Regina 175 (tiebreaker), 7. English Valleys 175, 8. Prince of Peace 195, 9. Bellevue 235, 10. Easton Valley 238, 11. Calamus-Wheatland 272, 12. Bellevue Marquette 297, 13. Holy Trinity Fort Madison 344, 14. North Cedar 350, 15. Rivermont Collegiate Bettendorf 374
Individual Results
Top 10: 1. Gage Heyne (EV), 16:46.4; 2. Jackson Shacklett (Danville), 16:58.6; 3. Lincoln Bainbridge (VBC), 17:26.6; 4. Race Starr (Durant), 18:03.0; 5. Noah Horn (Danville), 18:03.4; 6. Hayden Riggan (L-M), 18:03.4; 7. Landry Loeffler (VBC), 18:06.0; 8. Connor Kilburg (Bellevue), 18:09.5; 9. Ryan Greve (Prince of Peace), 18:13.3; 10. Isaac Frazier (EV), 18:16.6
English Valleys (175): 1. Gage Heyne, 16:46.4; 10. Isaac Frazier, 18:16.6; 21. Evan Koehn, 18:50.6; 64. Jack Osborne, 21:14.6; 89. Hunter Offerman, 23:14.0
