Washington girls skyrocket to state

WASHINGTON — On state qualifier day, you need to be at your best, and that’s exactly where the Washington cross-country team was on Wednesday evening.

With all the pressure on, the Demon girls performed admirably. With three team bids up for grabs, the Demons finished second place.

Not only did Washington get one of the only three bids, they did it by a whopping 70 points. Washington scored 60 on the day, 19 better than third-place Center Point-Urbana. Fourth-place Davenport Assumption’s final tally was 130.

“This race has been our goal all season,” said sophomore Lauren Horak. “We've been looking forward to this race, and we were so strong. We knew what we needed to do.”

Horak was one of three Demons to finish in the Top-11. Iris Dahl finished sixth, in 19 minutes, 58.934 seconds. Quincy Griffis finished 10th, in 20:11.820, and Horak was right behind Griffis with an 11th-place 20:18.453.

“It was really, really exciting,” said Dahl. “I think we all knew we were going to come out and do it if we all pushed our hardest.”

Even more impressive may have been how the youngest team in the field was able to rise to the occasion. Washington’s entire lineup was made up of underclassmen, including Dahl, a freshman.

“It's really cool,” Dahl said. “I didn't even know what cross-country was a couple of years ago, so it's really cool to be a part of it.”

Alyvia Anderson finished 16th for the Demons. Kendall Hinrichsen was 17th. Angeline Anderson crossed in 19th, and Isabella Lujan took 27th.

The Demons were the only area big school runners to make the state meet on the girls’ side. Fairfield’s Carley Seeley and Madlena Bloomquist finished 18th and 20th respectively, narrowly missing out on the Top-15 individually, which earned bids to Fort Dodge. Mt. Pleasant’s Belle Maedor was 25th.

The Demon boys had high hopes of making state as a team, but it wasn’t in the cards for a squad that found itself battling a tough district. The Demons finished fifth as a team, scoring 117, which was eight points off third-place Fort Madison, who stole a team bid just six days after the Demons beat the Bloodhounds by three points at the SEC meet.

Washington was able to send two runners through individually. Junior Micah Rees was one of just two runners to cross in under 16 minutes, putting up a second-place time of 15:59.723. Sophomore Tyler Alderton finished 13th, in 17:08.103.

“Obviously it's two years in a row now where we feel like we've kind of gotten bumped out, but all of us did well,” said Rees. “A lot of us PR'ed, which is amazing on this course, in this temperature.”

Alderton will be making his first trip to Fort Dodge. He says he didn’t know exactly where he was down the home stretch, but just pushed as hard as he could when it mattered most.

“It was pretty intense out there,” he said. “It was just trying to find that spot where no one was willing to run. That's where I knew I had to push through and push hard.”

Mt. Pleasant will have a representative in Fort Dodge next week. After a couple years of narrowly missing the field, Ben Carthy ran a solid race, taking seventh-place with a final time of 16:40.507.

“This is my third time trying,” reflected Carthey after the race. “The other two times I couldn't do it. I'm just more disciplined with myself now, and way better than last year.”

Carthey stayed with the leaders through the first mile and then found his groove to stick in the Top 10.

“At the beginning, I tried to stay with Micah,” Carthey said. “I just based my pacing and stuff off him.”

Mt. Pleasant freshman Jude Dykstra nearly sneaked into the field himself, but had to stick with 20th. Washington’s Lane Schrock took 24th. Fairfield’s top runner was Dayton Mauck, who took 31st.

The state meet will take place on the morning Saturday, Oct. 29. Class 1A and 2A qualifying meets take place Thursday. As of press time, those events are not completed.

GIRLS’ TEAM STANDINGS: 1. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 41; 2. Washington 60; 3. Cedar Point-Urbana 79; 4. Davenport Assumption 130; 5. Fort Madison 132; 6. Fairfield 144; 7. Western Dubuque 148; 8. Mt. Pleasant 184; 9. Keokuk 238; 10. Central DeWitt 291; 11. South Tama 320

GIRLS’ INDIDIVUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Mason Lourdes (12) Mount Vernon-Lisbon 18:38.647; 2. Emma Wilkerson (11) Center Point Urbana 19:11.510; 3. Avery Rump (9) Fort Madison 19:17.897; 4. Laura Swart (12) Mount Vernon-Lixtbon 19:22.397; 6. Iris Dahl (9) Washington 19:46.693; 7. Alyssa Klein (11) Western Dubuque 19:58.943; 8. Deni Katcher (9) Center Point-Urbana 20:00.560; 9. Kiersten Swart (9) Mount Vernon-Lisbon 20:10.453; 10. Quincy Griffis (10) Washington 20:11.820; 11. Lauren Horak (10) Washington 20:18.453; 12. Lily Miller (9) Center Point-Urbana 20:19.540; 13. Bella Meyers (10) Western Dubuque 20:21.390; 14. Addison Rump (9) Fort Madison 20:21.830; 15. Emerson Quick (11) Davenport Assumption 20:28.137.

BOYS’ TEAM STANDINGS: 1. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 60; 2. Western Dubuque 63; 3. Fort Madison 109; 4. South Tama 111; 5. Washington 117; 6. Center Point-Urbana 120; 7. Central DeWtt 156; 8. Mt. Pleasant 188; 9. Fairfield 253; 10. Davenport Assumption 264; 11. Maquoketa 337; 12. Notre Dame-West Burlington 347; 13. Keokuk 397

BOYS’ INDIVIDUAL QUALIFIERS: 1. Isaiah Hammerhand (12) Western Dubuque 15:43.367; 2. Micah Rees (11) Washington 15:59.723; 3. Tommy Tyynismaa (11) South Tama 16:04.057; 4. Quentin Nauman (9) Western Dubuque 16:37.607; 5. Jimmy Brant (11) South Tama 16:39.467; 6. Trady Olberding (10) Mount Vernon-Lisbon; 7. Ben Carthey (11) Mt. Pleasant 16:40.507; 8. Derek Fangman (12) Western Dubuque 16:40.507; 8. Derek Fangman (12) Western Dubuque 16:40.547; 9. Klayten Perreault (11) Mount Vernon-Lisbon 16:44.107; 10. Caleb Olson (10) Central DeWitt 16:46.357; 11. Drew Meyer (12) Western Dubuque 17:03.297; 12. Dawson Scheil (9) Mount Vernon-Lisbon 17:06.353; 13. Tyler Alderton (10) Washington 17:08.103; 14. Mason McLey (9) Fort Madison 17:08.297; 15. Riley Tripp (9) Fort Madison 17:14.190.