Pekin’s boys, girls advance to state

IOWA CITY - Brody Barton, Leah Bontrager, Lauren Dersheid, Jonah Egli, Lily Fariss, Colten Glosser, Jonah Heckenburg, Brady Millikin, Faith Neely and Madison Thomann all have the same thing in common. They finished in the top 15 of the boys and girls Class 1A state-qualifying meet Thursday at the Kickers Soccer Complex to qualify for the state meet Nov. 2 at Ft. Dodge. In addidtion, both the Pekin boys and girls teams placed second to advance.

Pekin's Glosser and Dersheid each placed second as individuals.

'I did not really have a strategy,” Glosser said. 'I just wanted to go out and run and enjoy it.”

'I am proud of myself and my team,” Dersheid said. 'It was pretty awesome. We really stepped it up so I think we can do it again at state.”

'There is no pressure at state,” said Pekin's Millikin, who finished third. 'We are just going to let it loose and give ourselves a chance.”

'I felt really good so I thought that helped me run a good race,” said Pekin's Fariss, who finished 13th.

Winfield-Mt. Union's Barton edged WACO's Egli for 14th. Van Buren's Neely and Hackenburg both finished in 11th place.

'I just wanted to pace my first lap and then run hard on my second lap,” Hackenburg said.

Highland's Thomann and Hillcrest's Bontrager engaged in an all-out sprint over the last 40 meters with Bontrager getting sixth place by 31/100 of a second.

'(Hillcrest coach) Marty (Gingerich) always tells me where to kick it and he told me at the ditch,” Bontrager said. 'I love it when he tells me when to go. That was probably the fastest way I have finished a race.”

'It was just the adrenaline that was pushing me,” Thomann said. 'I knew what parts I had to push a little harder on and what parts that I could use to recuperate a little bit, so I was ready for the end.”

Everybody had a thought on three man-made bumps that particpants had to negotiate twice.

Thomann said they were 'fun” while Bontrager thought they were 'annoying.”

'I like running hills but those three bumps were weird,” Hackenburg said. 'I got to the top and almost flew coming down on the first one because it was such a steep drop.”

'I don't like it,” Glosser said. 'I know some people do, but not me.”

'Those bunny hills are really different,” Millikin said. 'They break up your rhythm.”

'Those three bumps give you a break from all the grass,” Dersheid said.

'Those three humps are so awful,” Fariss said. 'I don't know why they do that.”

GIRLS TEAM SCORES 1. Iowa City Regina 60, 2. Pekin 89, 3. Prince of Peace 117, 4. Central Elkader 134, 5. Cascade 148, 6. Marquette 185, 7. Maquoketa Valley 207, 8. North Cedar 212, 9. Hillcrest 233, 10. Highland 237, 11. Mediapolis 246, 12. Wapello 272, 13. Durant 291, Wilton 301

Pekin - 2. Dersheid 20:50.82, 12. Fariss 21:32.57, 22. Sarah Eubanks 22:31.18, 26. Emily Laumeyer 22:50.65, 27. Mia Clark 22:53.29

Hillcrest - 6. Bontrager 21:19.89, 25. Salena Graber 22:48.29, 65. Chloe Staley 26:19.65, 66. Julia Boller 26:25.62, 71. Taryn Leichty 27:15.67

Highland - 7. Thomann 21:20.20, 43. Fiona Mahler 24:04.03, 53. Alli Brand 24:43.54, 55. Taylor Sublette 25:02.61, 79. Katelyn Waters 28:28.37

BOYS TEAM SCORES - 1. Calamus-Wheatland 51, 2. Pekin 75, 3. Maquoketa Valley 87, 4. Iowa City Regina 136, 5. Cascade 169, 6. Wapello 190, 7. Wilton 230, 8. Columbus 279, 9. Winfield-Mt. Union 294, 10. Holy Trinity 349, 12. Van Buren 352, 13. Central Elkader 363, 14. Durant 395, 15. Rivermont 405, 16. Easton Valley 412, 17. Lone Tree 447, 18. Mediapolis 452, 19. North Cedar 464, 20. Midland 472, 21. Hillcrest 481, 22. Marquette 598, 23. Highland

Pekin - 2. Glosser 17:20.29, 3. Millikin 17:20.95, 15. Zack Wise 18:12.0, 19. Tanner Conger 18:17.76, 36. Gavyn Brown 19:08.69

Columbus - 32. Isaac Acosta 19:02.41, 53. Alex Rivas 19:48.91, 54. Freddy Vergara 19:50.76, 61. Gary Molina 20:10.11, 79. Garrett Palmer 20:36.11

W-MU - 13. Barton 18:06.21, 44. Asa Gipple 19:38.36, 55. Dane Sweezer 19:52.7, 86. Lane Scorpil 20:57.52, 96. Talon Newton 21:26.65

Hillcrest - 77. Will Kolck 20:32.46, 94. Colby Harris 21:25.62, 97. Owen Swartzentruber 21:26.94, 99. Jesse Slater 21:37.49, 114. Collin Miller 22:36.52

Highland - 101. Noah Oriano 21:44.42, 103. Jacob Roling 21:45.91, 118. Brendan Schnoeblen 22:49.45, 143. Matt Butler 26:13.46, 146. Noah Holden 27:43.08

HOSTETLER, MID-PRAIRIE, D-NL ADVANCE

Marie Hostetler won the 2A mmet at Williamsburg and the Mid-Prairie girls placed second to Williamsburg to advance to state. Danville-New London's boys were third to qualify for state with Ty Carr fifth and Alexander Julian seventh. Addison Parrott was third but the DNL girls team was fourth and did not qualify. Cardinal's boys were ninth and the girls were 11th.

'I felt good,” Hostetler said. 'I knew it was a fast course. I ran a slower time on it earlier this year. It was a beautiful day to run. I'm finally getting a little better at (motivation), so that is encouraging. Just keeping focused on one step at a time, just running for my girls and running for God because He gets me through everything. You need to rely on Him and draw closer to Him through that.”