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Washington Evening Journal
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Washington, Seeley representing at state XC
Demon boys, Dahl, Fairfield’s Seeley qualify for state cross-country
PELLA — For Washington, Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant cross-country, no day was bigger throughout the 2023 season than Wednesday afternoon’s Class 3A state qualifying meet in Pella.
What a day it was for the three Union area big schools as a pair will be represented at the state meet, while one came up just short.
The Washington boys, punched their ticket to the state meet with a second overall finish, notching 77 points. Pella finished first with 21 points and Clear Creek-Amana took third with 86 to advance to the state meet.
Both Fairfield and Mt. Pleasant came up short in the team standings with Mt. Pleasant taking seventh with 178 points and Fairfield 11th with 289 points.
On the girls’ side, none of three school advanced.
Washington came ever so close, missing the top three by just two points, scoring 112, while third-place Clear Creek-Amana ended with 110.
Fairfield ran to a eighth-place finish with 209 points and Mt. Pleasant was 12th with 343.
Leading the Washington boys individually once again was Micah Rees.
Rees ran to a runner-up finish, clocking a time of 15 minutes and 48 seconds.
“I’m so pumped,” Rees said. “The last couple of years we’ve missed it by one or two points so knowing that we made it is the most exciting thing. Praise god for that. Individually, my goal was to come out on top, but I’m excited. We’re not done yet. I’ve left some in the tank for state.”
Along with Rees, individual qualifiers were Tyler Alderton finishing ninth in 16:43 and Andrew Rees taking 13th in 16:49.
Sawyer Schantz (25th), Lane Schrock (28th), Kael Malichky (45th) and Andrew Shepherd (50th) also will represent the Demons at the state meet.
Leading Mt. Pleasant was Ben Carthey. Carthey just missed out on the qualifying placement, finishing 16th in 16:58.49.
Locken Henderson followed in 26th. Jude Dykstra placed 35th, followed by Garrett Landau (49th), Mowery Coleman (52nd), Gavin Slagel (65th) and Drake Landau (76th).
For Fairfield, Nate Konczal placed 41st in 18:09.45. Gabe Tejada finished 58th, followed by Riley Perkins (62nd), John Miller (64th), Ben Boatright (68th), Clae Cass (71st) and Andrew Myers (73rd).
For Washington on the girls’ side Iris Dahl punched her ticket back to the state tournament with a fifth overall finish.
Dahl crossed the tape in 19:30.46.
“I came here going for top five, so I feel good doing that,” Dahl said. “I really just wanted to show up for my team and I’m just ready to go to state and really step up.”
Alyvia Anderson (23rd), Angeline Anderson (26th) and Quincy Griffis (27th) all finished inside the top 30, but just missed out on the qualifying spots.
Kendall Hinrichsen (31st), Abigail Kleese (33rd) and Isabella Lujan (37th) followed.
Fairfield will be represented at the state meet by a lone runner. That is senior Carley Seeley.
Seeley dashed to a top 10 finish, clocking 20:13.53 for 10th.
“Eight weeks ago I said I was reaching for the stars this season,” an emotional Seeley said. “For me that meant I was making it to the state meet, but I didn’t want to voice it. Just being a senior, it means the entire world to me. I’ve work for like six year for this, going back to middle school.”
Following Seeley was Malena Bloomquist (36th), Caroline Van Pelt (39th), Paige Bisgard (59th), Bailey Belzer (65th), Emerson Porter (66th) and Lydia Cass (84th).
Mt. Pleasant was led by Monroe James in 56th, followed by Nelle Peterson (61st), Jayden Yoder (68th), Tatum Kane (73rd) and Hailey Parrott (85th).
The 3A state championships will take place next Saturday in Fort Dodge.
