Clarke sophomore Ian Showers and Interstate 35 junior Marie Reitingerova were in the hunt on Oct. 23 for qualifying spots to this Saturday’s State Cross Country Meet, but both runners came up just short.
The top 10 individuals and top three teams qualified from the Oct. 23 State Qualifying Meets to the State Cross Country Meet in Fort Dodge.
Showers finished 14th in the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet at Panora, while Reitingerova finished 11th at the same meet on a muddy, sloppy course that traversed part of the West Golf Course at Lake Panorama and several side hills through a wooded area.
Numerous runners went down over the course of the Class 1A and Class 2A races held on the course, including one Nodaway Valley runner who had to have 10 stitches in his hand after being stepped on after falling.
In the Class 2A boys race, six of the 10 individual qualifying spots went to runners on one of the three teams that qualified.
In finishing 14th, Showers was the seventh among runners who did not qualify as part of a team. He traversed the 5K course in a time of 19:17.32, just 21 seconds back of West Central Valley’s Rylan Heffernan for the final individual qualifying spot.
Jake Manternach finished 23rd for Clarke, running 19:40.48.
As a team, the Indians finished ninth with 249 points, one spot and nine points ahead of Interstate 35.
The Roadrunner boys were led by Dylan Brown in 24th place with his time of 19:44.04.
On the girls side, Interstate 35 finished sixth in the team standings with 151 points.
The Roadrunners were led by Reitingerova, who finished 11th with her time of 18:27.91 on the 4K course.
Reitingerova finished 19 seconds behind Red Oak’s Nikki Graber for the final individual qualifying spot.
“Marie was an excellent addition to our team this year,” Interstate 35 head coach Desman Oakley said. “She got bottlenecked at the beginning of the race on that first sharp turn and was not able to make up for it. She was a slow starter all year, but I think without that congestion, she would’ve made it.”
Similar to the boys race, most of the individual qualifying spots went to runners who also qualified as part of a team. Eight of the 10 individual qualifying spots were occupied by runners on team qualifiers.
“When I asked her if she was OK for being so close, she said, ‘I don’t think it would’ve been very much fun without my teammates, anyway,’” Oakley said.
Maddie Albers finished 29th and Cheyenne Hiatt was 31st for the Roadrunners.
“Both our boys and girls had very successful seasons,” Oakley said. “We have a lot of first-year runners and a lot of second-year runners, and I thought the outcomes of our season were great. Although we are not used to being shut out from state, I don’t think anyone is walking away from the season thinking anything was left undone.
“Unfortunately, Marie is an exchange student and will be returning to the Czech Republic next semester, but we only lose one scoring senior from each team.”
Pella meet
The Clarke girls competed in the Class 3A State Qualifying Meet at Pella, while Central Decatur competed in the Class 2A meet in Pella.
Tiffany McKnight finished 33rd for Clarke, while Kylie Shields placed 35th. McKnight crossed the line in 18:03.62, with Shields finishing in 18:07.43. Clarke placed 10th out of 13 teams with 282 team points.
In the 2A competition, Central Decatur finished 12th in the girls team standings with 303 points, while the CD boys placed 12th with 302 points.
CLASS 2A
STATE QUALIFYING MEET
PANORA
GIRLS
Team standings — 1. North Polk 58, 2. Red Oak 76, 3. West Central Valley 82, 4. Greene County 93, 5. Eagle Grove 131, 6. Interstate 35 151, 7. Clarion-Goldfield 188, 8. Southeast Valley 198, 9. Clarinda 214, 10. Roland-Story 235, 11. Southwest Iowa 291.
Interstate 35 — 11. Marie Reitingerova, 18:27.91; 29. Maddie Albers, 19:30.77; 31. Cheyenne Hiatt, 19:46.71; 39. Kirsten Schirm, 20:26.34; 45. Jordan Yawn, 21:06.52; 64. Christina Winslow, 22:14.94.
BOYS
Team standings — 1. Red Oak 54, 2. Shenandoah 62, 3. Southeast Valley 97, 4. North Polk 104, 5. Eagle Grove 111, 6. West Central Valley 189, 7. Roland-Story 192, 8. Greene County 201, 9. Clarke 249, 10. Interstate 35 258, 11. Woodward Academy 322, 12. Clarinda 333, 13. Clarion-Goldfield 336, 14. Southwest Iowa 437.
Clarke — 14. Ian Showers, 19:17.32; 23. Jake Manternach, 19:40.48; 62. Timber Kent, 21:32.89; 71. Parker Hardy, 21:53.70; 79. Jace Draper, 23:02.33; 86. Nick Johnston, 23:48.00; 93. John Cutshall, 24:23.07.
Interstate 35 — 24. Dylan Brown, 19:44.04; 44. Morgan Nelson, 20:37.74; 50. Austin Pontier, 21:02.13; 64. Zach Goering, 21:36.50; 76. Garret McFarland, 22:45.07; 78. Max Bertrand, 22:53.42; 89. Sam Cook, 24:01.39.
CLASS 3A
TATE QUALIFYING MEET
PELLA
GIRLS
Team standings — 1. Ballard 43, 2. Pella 48, 3. Grinnell 81, 4. Oskaloosa 107, 5. Mount Pleasant 125, 6. Norwalk 143, 7. Bondurant-Farrar 259, 8. Nevada 269, 9. Saydel 277, 10. Clarke 282, 11. Carlisle 290, 12. Knoxville 313, 13. Chariton 326.
Clarke — 33. Tiffany McKnight, 18:03.62; 35. Kylie Shields, 18:07.43; 65. Chelsea Selsor, 20:21.22; 72. Hallee Ashby, 20:51.39; 77. Autumn Ashby, 21:38.48.
CLASS 2A
STATE QUALIFYING MEET
PELLA
GIRLS
Team standings — 1. South Hardin 49, 2. Des Moines Christian 81, 3. Dike New Hartford 95, 4. East Marshall, 5. Davis County 139, 6. Collins-Maxwell-Baxter 159, 7. Prairie City-Monroe 160, 8. Centerville 197, 9. Pella Christian 203, 10. Albia 234, 11. Union 262, 12. Central Decatur 303.
Central Decatur — 27. Sarah Woods, 18:21.98; 62. Chelsea Weaver, 20:16.49; 75. Trista Waddell, 21:16.44; 78. Taylor Farnsworth, 21:39.38; 79. Addy Frank, 21:42.84; 84. Mary Lindsey, 22:34.41; 88. Monica Irving, 28:09.89.
BOYS
Team standings — 1. East Marshall 60, 2. Albia 82, 3. Davis County 87, 4. Williamsburg 94, 5. Des Moines Christian 102, 6. Collins-Maxwell-Baxter 116, 7. Dike New Hartford 161, 8. South Hardin 271, 9. Eddyville 272, 10. Union 276, 11. Prairie City-Monroe 276, 12. Central Decatur 302, 13. Centerville 328.
Central Decatur — 55. Ben Savely, 20:08.63; 61. Sergio Cardenas, 20:54.23; 63. Nick Bishop, 20:55.44; 69. Ryan McKinney, 21:16.09; 79. William Ansong, 21:37.20; 84. Matthew Cooper, 22:03.73; 90. Jordan Mitchell, 22:39.84.