On Friday, October 27, 4A class runners from across the state of Iowa competed in the prestigious high school state cross country meet. Going into the State meet the Spartans’ girls and boys teams were ranked fourth and seventh respectively. Needless to say, expectations were high for both teams as always.
The girls ran first at 10:30 a.m., facing the fierce conditions near freezing temperatures with 20-mile-per-hour wind gusts.
“This year’s meet was definitely a lot colder than the last state meet, and the wind makes it really tough to run a fast time,” said PV cross country runner Parker Millage.
The girls went through the one-mile mark of the 5K course in fifth place as a team. During the second mile, the team moved up one spot finishing in fourth place overall, the same as their ranking going into the meet.
Junior Grace Boleyn and Sophomore Brynn Edgin led the way for the Spartans, finishing in 23rd place with a time of 18:51.9 and 24th place with a time of 18:52.7 respectively.
Afterward, the boys lined up on the course starting line to begin their race for the state title at 11:15 a.m. The boys started conservatively, running through the first-mile mark in eleventh place as a team. In the second mile, they moved up three spots into eighth place. Through the third mile and all the way to the finish, the boys’ team held off the competition with all-out kicks, remaining in eighth place. Senior Carl Rekow led the Spartans in 27th place with a time of 16:06.8.
The 2023 state cross country meet was much faster than those in recent years. Generally, the all-state honors cut-off time, decided by the fifteenth place runner’s time, is around 16:07. This year the fifteenth runner was sophomore Ike Smith of Ankeny who finished the course in 15:49.4, 18 seconds faster than the recent average.
“The competition was really good. Times that would get all-state most years ended up in 20th or 30th place, and I thought the times would be slower than last year because of the weather,” said PV cross country runner Griffin Adkins.
While this year’s competition was certainly faster and more dense than previous years, the course record was not broken. Set in 2022 by now-graduated Dowling Catholic runner Jackson Heidesch, the Fort Dodge Lakeside Municipal Golf Course 5k Course record of 14:56.66 is no easy feat to accomplish.
This year the individual winner, Junior Ethan Zuber of Ankeny ran a time of 15:07.7.
It will be interesting to see how the increase in competition affects the state meet results next year in the 2024 season.
