Glenwood girls 14th at state cross country
FORT DODGE - The Glenwood girls placed 14th as a team at the Iowa State Cross Country Meet Saturday in Fort Dodge.
The Rams finished with 294 points. Dubuque Wahlert was the team champion with 72 points. The Rams trailed only 13th place finisher Denison among Hawkeye 10 teams.
Glenwood girls coach Jeff Janssen said prior to state he thought his team had a shot at matching their eighth place ranking in the team finish. While the Rams came up a little short of that projection, Janssen said his team more than lived up to his expectations.
“Time wise and to have all five of our scorers be only 36 seconds apart, I couldn’t be prouder,” Janssen said. “I’m really proud of how that top group ran as a team. There was only a minute and nine seconds between our top runner and our seventh runner which is fantastic. Pack running is something we’ve preached all year and we definitely did that at state. The pack got us here and that’s how we ran.”
Kate Kaufman led the Rams with a 42nd place finish at state. Her time of 20:26.1 was the second fastest time of her career.
“I couldn’t feel better for Kate having ended her career here that way,” Janssen said of his senior runner. “To run her second fastest time at state says a lot about her work and dedication throughout the years and she deserved to be our top runner.”
Following Kaufman, Aubrey McIntyre placed 52nd (20:46.9). 65. Lacey Jackson was 65th (21:00.2), Katelyn Malcom was 66th (21:00.7), Erin Schultz was 70th (21:02.6), Abi Schultz was 74th (21:18.6) and Lexi Hankins was 85th (21:35. 4).
McIntyre ran her fastest time at state in second trip. Jackson, a state qualifier last year, ran one second faster this year than last.
With five of his seven runners never having run at state before, Janssen admitted nerves were high. But to see the team get out there and run and experience state, was big for his team.
“For the girls to make the trip and have the managers and some other girls make the trip, and the fans and the parents, to have whole experience with the atmosphere at state was something they embraced. It can be a huge building block for this program.”
Parson Covington and Mason Parks, the Glenwood boys individual qualifiers, placed 83rd and 84th respectively. Covington ran a 17:36.8 and Parks was a step behind at 17:36.9.
Gilbert was the boys team champion with 75 points.
Glenwood boys coach Todd Peverill said he felt like this two state qualifiers who are both juniors, ran “well” in a crowded middle of the pack where 11 seconds separated a group of 40 runners.
“There was a real tight group there,” Peverill said. “They (Covington and Parks) ran together and they enjoyed it (state) and are ready to go for next year. It was great to see them get this experience. Hopefully when they get back next year they’re really ready to push it.”
Both runners told their coach they felt like the pace, especially the opening mile, was a bit faster than they expected and while their final times reflected were both among the two Rams’ fastest this season, they both admitted keeping up with the first mile pace was a challenge.
“We expected it’d be fast with the competition,” Peverill said. “There’s a lot of really great runners at state. We just have to get that first mile a little quicker and get comfortable with it. They’re not at the level yet and they have to take it one step further to be ready for next year.”
While neither Covington nor Parks took home a medal from state they did take home something that both can building on through this spring track season and the off-season: experience.
“Mason made it here last year and ran pretty bad,” Peverill said. “He was a little nervous and stepped on something on the course and he didn’t have Parson there to run with him. This year, Parson was there and Mason ran almost 40 spots better than last year. There were 39 seniors that competed. If he can make that sort of improvement next year he can really get up there. It’s all about progressing and taking it one step at a time. This will fire them up for next year.”