Four to Fort Dodge

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GREENFIELD — ‘I told you you had nothing to be nervous about Michael,’ said a smiling parent following the Class 1A Regional boys race Monday at Greenfield Country Club.

The Orient-Macksburg junior was nerved, but he certainly used the anxiety as energy. Wearing No. 111 pinned to his jersey, Michael Kaufman ran to a fourth-place finish and qualified for his first state cross country meet.

“Yeah, I was nervous before the meet, during the meet. I was nervous the whole time,” said Kaufman after posting a time of 18:19.  “I came around that last turn though. They told me I was in fourth or fifth. I felt good then because I normally have a good finish.”

Teammate Dean Barnett placed 22nd overall at 19:10 and Corning’s Caleb Allen, battling illness this week, placed 25th at 19:20. Orient-Mackburg contended for the team title, placing fifth overall with 156 points. The top three teams advance to state. St. Albert and Woodbine shared the title with 71 points each.

Nodaway Valley

For Lauren Bricker, a four-year runner for Nodaway Valley coach Darrell Burmeister, traveling to Fort Dodge for the state cross country meet is a routine. Nodaway Valley athletic director Dave Huff announced to a huddled crowd of about 700 Monday, that  the Wolverines placed second overall and will be making their ninth consecutive appearance in the state cross country meet.

“Every year I have ran, we have went to state,” Bricker said. “This year, we jumped out of the rankings for  a while. And then jumped back in. We ran really close with Griswold who is ranked No. 2 in the state. We are excited for Saturday.”

Nodaway Valley scored 88 points and Griswold edged the Wolverines with 84 team points. Susan Herr placed seventh overall, making the state qualifying cut at 16:50. Kristin Kincaide placed 13th at 17:16 and Bethni Johnson crossed at 17:31, good enough for 19th. Bricker placed 24th at 17:44.68 and teammate Brittni Johnson was directly behind at 17:46.89.

Just a freshman

Corning’s Tiffany Shepherd, jogging toward the entrance Tuesday after the race, coughed the entire trip. Like several, Shepherd had dueled with an illness this week. But she dueled and she won.

“It’s all in your mind,” said Shepherd.

The freshman placed second overall, just four seconds behind Rachel Northrup (16:26) of Griswold, and will run in her first state cross country meet on Halloween this Saturday.

“I watched my sister last year,” she said. “I have seen it done before. I just went out there and did it.”

The state cross country meet is held at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. The Class 4A girls kick the morning off at 11 a.m. and Kaufman and the 1A boys finalize the day at 2:30 p.m. For in between start times, see the information box above.

Other times

Girls

Nodaway Valley: 26. Paige Jones, 17:47; 60. Robyn Kincaide, 19:16.

Corning: 43. Kristen Carmichael, 18:40; 47. Kaylee Tucker, 18:52; 65. Kaleigh Westlake, 19:43; 68. Rachel Peterson, 19:49; Alaina Templeton, 19:51; 75. Andrea Boswell, 20:06

Mount Ayr: 88. Becca Gregg, 20:50; 89. Amber Lilentahl, 20:55; 105. Brittni Gillespie, 22:18; 115. Grace Fernandez, 24:20; 117. Desirae Trammell, 24: 36; 118. Ashley Wickizer, 24.39.

Orient-Macksburg: 103. Whitney Tridle, 21:59

Boys

Nodaway Valley: 36. Jesse McCann, 19:47; 43. Shiloh Ingram, 19:54; 56. Jordan Bovee, 20:35; 86. Jaime Bricker, 21:42; 111. Waylon Sorensen, 23:21; 116. Nate Blaine, 23:21;

Mount Ayr: 44. Tom Hosfield, 20:07; 79. Taylor Richie, 21:26; 90. Jordan Klejch, 21:45; 102. Christian Overholtzer, 22:27; 103. Alex Wallace, 22:29; 121. Zach Zollman, 24:06; 126. Ian Abarr, 24: 44

Corning: 71. Lee Sorensen, 21:09; 80. Ricky Cornelison, 21:30; 87. Jake Winkler, 21:43; 122. Billy Boswell, 24.08; 128. Tyler Ericson, 25:10; 129. Briar Harvey, 25:12.

Orient-Macksburg: 50. Jacob Caviness, 20:20; 51. Nathan Carr, 20:20; 60. Adam Pool, 20:42; 78. Jordan Nelson, 21:21;

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PERRY — Freshman Emily Wignall will toe the line on Halloween afternoon after advancing to the state cross country meet in Fort Dodge with a seventh place finish at the Perry Class 3A district meet Monday night.

Wignall is the first female qualifier since Karla Fisher in 2004 and the first runner from Creston since Matt Lanning in 2007.

“She ran a gutsy race and showed a lot of spunk after battling a cold for the last two weeks,” said Creston head coach Pat Schlapia. “She maintained working around sixth through eighth throughout the entire race.”

Running a 16:22, Wignall edged out former Creston runner Christy Stevens, who finished eighth and will also run at the state meet representing Atlantic.

Chelsea Ekeler was the next Panther in for the Creston girls in a time of 17:35, placing 36th overall.

Also scoring for Creston was Allison Wood, Kierra Smith and Morgan Thompson, placing 57th, 64th and 67th respectively. Katie Stevens crossed the line in 18:54, good enough for 69th.

“Chelsea and Katie Stevens ran their best races of the season and Allison Wood ran tough for us as our third runner,” said Schlapia. “Kierra and Morgan were close behind in their final races and

Two points separated the top three teams that all advanced to the state meet. Atlantic took the title with 79 points, followed by Harlan with 80 and Boone with 81. Winterset just missed the state meet in fourth place with 91 points.

Creston finished with 231 points.

On the boys side, David Thompson slipped under the 20-minute mark, placing 60th overall. The squad was limited to only five runners because Chad Miller was out battling illness and Tyler Rafter was hindered by knee pain and could not race.

“We wanted to do better as a team for the boys and the girls, but we return five boys and five girls to the varsity lineup next season, so that will be our new goal,” said Schalpia. “David did a nice job running in the one spot for us and Zach (Wignall) got out to a bad start and had to play catch up the whole race.”

Teammate Zach Wignall crossed the line next in 20:26, Luke Powell and Ryan Helm finished back-to-back in 74th and 75th and Tyler Coenen wrapped up the Panther scoring in 80th.

Boone ran away with the men’s team title with 43 points and Glenwood edged out Dallas Center-Grimes by one point for second. Creston’s team total was 357.

Wignall will run at noon this Saturday at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.

RESULTS

Girls Team Standings

1. Atlantic 79; 2. Harlan 80; 3. Boone 81; 4. Winterset 91; 10. Creston 231.

Girls Top-10

1. Ali Krogman (Atlantic), 15:30; 2. Stephanie Markey (Nevada), 15:44; 3. Erin Sawyer (Winterset), 15:47; 4. Nichole Miller (Boone), 16:03; 5. Megan Patava (Norwalk), 16:09; 6. Jessie Byrenes (Harlan), 16:11; 7. Emily Wignall (Creston), 16:22; 8. Christy Stevens (Atlantic), 16:26; 9. Natasha Swanson (Boone), 16:30; 10. Jenny Hosack (Harlan), 16:40.

Individual Results

Creston — 7. Emily Wignal, 16:22; 36. Chelsea Ekeler, 17:35; 57. Allison Wood, 18:19; 64. Kierra Smith, 18:45; 67. Morgan Thompson, 18:47; 69. Katie Stevens, 18:54. DNR. Laura Scott (ill).

Boys Team Standings

1. Boone 43; 2. Glenwood 75; 3. Dallas Center-Grimes 76; 12. Creston 357.

Boys Top-10

1. Evan Selsor (Winterset), 16:17; 2. Brogan Austin (Boone), 16:19; 3. Johnny Fuller (Glenwood), 16:19; 4. Nathan Brace (Harlan), 16:31; 5. Dennis Lengishon (Atlantic), 16:45; 6. Nick Yaeger (Boone), 16:55; 7. Kit Anderson (Norwalk), 17:04; 8. Bryce Phillips (Boone), 17:18; 9. Travis Newman (Saydel), 17:24; 10. Andrew Thiel (Boone), 17:34.

Individual Results

Creston — 60. David Thompson, 19:58; 68. Zach Wignall, 20:26; 74. Luke Powell, 20:41; 75. Ryan Helm, 21:06; 80. Tyler Coenen, 21:30; DNR. Chad Miller (sick); DNR. Tyler Rafter (knee).