Millikin leads area 1A finishes

FORT DODGE - There may not be a better feeling than choosing, then setting and achieving a goal.

Steve Riley coached the Columbus boys to work hard and achieve an appearance in the state meet, which they did, then won a tiebreak to place 13th.

Pekin's Brady Millikin finished sixth at last year's state meet and decided in the summer to place in the top five in 2020, his senior season.

Millikin ran his Class 1A cross-country race in 16 minutes, 33 seconds to place fourth Saturday at a windswept Lakeside Golf Course. His team was ninth.

Pekin has a reputation for being able to excel in windy conditions. 'Our practices have definitely prepared me for this,” he said then mentioned another way he prepared. 'I want to give a lot of credit to Zac Wise because he got quarantined. I would not have gotten fourth without him.”

The Panther boys placed ninth and the girls tied Iowa City Regina for third but lost the tiebereaker to place fourth.

Pekin supports its teams and Millikin noted the big send off, applause just walking out of school, and all the cheering

'It is awesome that there are students here, parents here, there are parents here that don't even have students here,” he said.

Riley has established a program for the Wildcats that can only grow.

'I set really high goals,” Riley said. 'We probably didn't quite make those. All I can say is that they couldn't have run any harder.”

Team support is always important but two area runners attacked state as individuals. Van Buren County had Faith Neeley place 95th with a time of 22:36.7. Hillcrest Academy's Leah Bontrager ran 21:43.3 to place 52nd.

Pekin's girls were at the second spot in the rankings all year but placed fourth, dropping a tiebreak to Regina. Freshman Lauren Steigleder led the Panthers with a 21st place finish.

'It was a little nerve-racking,” Steigleder said. 'Seeing so many people watching and everything was hard.”

Sarah Eubanks ran to 84th place and 50 points for Pekin. 'It was hard to keep my pace because of the wind. Coming up here, our goal as a team was to get to the podium. Personally, my goal was just to perform my best.”

GIRLS TEAM SCORES -- 1. Hudson 128, 2. South Winneshiek 130, 3. Iowa City Regina 161, 4. Pekin 161, 5. Acgc 163, 6. Ahstw 180, 7. Van Meter 184, 8. Manson Northwest Webster 187, 9. Prince Of Peace 216, 10. Earlham 226, 11. Logan-Magnolia 245, 12. St. Edmond Fort Dodge 251, 13. Kee Lansing 255, 14. Newman Catholic 259, 15. Montezuma 278, 16. Nashua-Plainfield 321.

Pekin -- 12. Lauren Steigleder 20:45.2, 25. Lauren Derscheid 21:38.1, 31. Lily Fariss 21:45.3, 43. Aubrey Fariss 22:11.4, 50. Sarah Eubanks 22:26.5, 75. Sabrina Reneker 23:22.4, 80. Mia Clark 23:34.7.

BOYS TEAM SCORES -- 1. Madrid 58, 2. Earlham 70, 3. South Winneshiek 140, 4. Acgc 156, 5. Bellevue 172, 6. Maquoketa Valley 203, 7. Ogden 207, 8. Hudson 238, 9. Pekin 263, 10. Nodaway Valley 269, 11. East Marshall 275, 12. Fort Dodge St. Edmond 277, 13. Mason City Newman 296, *14. Columbus 298, *15. Siouxland Christian 298, 16. Central Springs 304

1. Madrid 58, 2. Earlham 70, 3. South Winneshiek, Cal 140, 4. Acgc 156. 5. Bellevue 172, 6. Maquoketa Valley, Del 203, 7. Ogden 207, 8. Hudson 238, 9. Pekin 263, 10. Nodaway Valley 269, 11. East Marshall, Legran 275, 12. St. Edmond, Fort Dodge 277, 13. Newman Catholic, Maso 296, *14. Columbus Community, C 298, *15. Siouxland Christian 298, 16. Central Springs 304.

Pekin -- 3. Brady Millikin 16:33.3, 36. Jayden Wolver 18:09.2, 42. Isaac Gentry 18:21.6, 81. Ben Guise 19:42.5, 101. Gavyn Brown 20:41.2, 104. Chandler Stull 21:16.7. 108. Zach Wise 23:15.2.

Columbus -- 24. Isaac Acosta 17:51.1, 60. Damian Vergara 18:55.0, 64. Freddy Vergara 18:57.8, 68. Mason Hills-Carrier 19:20.3, 82.Alex Rivas 19:43.5, 87. Tim Hills-Carrier 19:54.4, 93. Van Bawi 20:19.5.