Glenwood girls headed back to state cross country meet

The Glenwood girls are headed back to the Iowa State Cross Country Meet.
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he Rams placed second in the team standings at the Class 2A state qualifying meet at Atlantic’s Nishna Hills Golf Course Thursday to punch their third straight ticket to state.

“We didn’t know for sure but this is always kind of our goals,” said Glenwood girls coach Dani Woodman. “(Glenwood Athletic Director Jeff) Bissen posted that this was the seventh state bid all time, you realize, that it is special.”

A trio of Ram runners also earned individual state bids in Atlantic. On the girls side, Rachel Mullennax and Emma Hughes qualified for state. On the boys side, Glenwood’s Sam McIntyre placed 10th to notch his second straight state bid.

The state cross country meet is Saturday at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. The meet begins with Class 4A at runners at 11 a.m.

Harlan was the girls meet champion with a team score of 56, followed by Glenwood with 79 and A-D-M with 98. The top three teams at the regional meet qualify for state.

On the boys side, Carlisle (44 points), North Polk (59) and the host Trojans (107) earned state bids. The Glenwood boys were sixth with 39 points.
Carlisle’s Ainsley Erzen was the girls individual champion. Erzen’s time of 19:09.43 was 26 seconds better than runner up Liza Schaffer of North Polk.

Mullennax ran a 20:16.21 to punch her first ticket to state. The sophomore has been the Rams top runner all season.

“Her freshmen year she did not train all summer but I could see she had potential with some training,” Woodman said of Mullennax. “And then looking from the outside in track and how well she ran, I knew she had the training now to be a really good runner. It’s always good to see girls put it together and do well.”

Hughes finished 10th with a time of 20:24.70.

The Rams narrowly missed a third state qualifier with Erin Schultz finishing 17th, just 23 seconds out of the top 15. The top 15 individual runners qualify for state.

“All three of our runners at the top, Rachel, Emma and Erin, have been really, really solid and consistent for us so I know those two would shoot for the top 15,” Woodman said. “I know Erin was disappointed she finished outside the top 15 but she still ran really great and she was right where we needed her to be.”

Woodman knew, however, he team’s chances of making it back to state would hinge on her fourth, fifth and sixth runners: Ryley Nebel, Karlee Raymond and Kaitlyn Carnes.

And they didn’t disappoint.
Nebel placed 21st followed by Raymond in 29th and Carnes in 32nd.

“Ryley and Karlee have really run some great races for us here at the end and they’ve worked really hard. Kaitlyn is new to running on varsity but she won the JV race at Harlan and she ran great. It all just sort of came together.”

Glenwood boys coach Todd Peverill said he felt like his team ran well overall, perhaps even its best meet of the year.

“This was probably the best we’ve run all year, especially with out four through seven guys,” Peverill said. “They really ran well. We were probably as close to (third place) Atlantic as we’ve been all year. That was good to see.”

McIntyre led the Rams with a 10th place finish. Teammate Tyler Huey just missed a state bid of his own, placing 17th with a time of 17:49.32. Huey’s time was less than three seconds out of the top 15. The Rams added a 21st place showing from Nathan Rohrberg.

“Sam had a great race and Tyler and Nate were right there with 500 meters left and they just faded a little bit and just missed qualifying as individuals,” Peverill said. “They gave it a good try.”

For McIntyre the bid is the seniors’ second straight.

“He went out quickly and he was as high as fifth most of the way,” Peverill said. “That last half mile he faded back a little bit too. He trained really hard this and focused on qualifying again. I’m proud that he made it with all the effort he put in.”

Nate Hughes was 44th and Brenden Godbout 47th to complete the Rams’ scoring.

The state meet is a familiar place for the Glenwood girls. This is their third straight bid after placing third at last year’s state cross country meet. Woodman isn’t making any predictions about this year’s team or potential placing.

“Having that experience last year is huge for us when you get to state and face all those top notch runners,” she said. “We’re not talking about matching last year’s numbers. If you look at our numbers, we have the potential to run well and compete. We’ll narrow it down this week.”

Class 3A Cross Country State Qualifying Meet
Girls Team Results
1. Harlan, 56. 2. Glenwood, 79. 3. A-D-M, 98. 4. Atlantic, 115. 5. North Polk, 116. 6. Creston, 121. 7. Carlisle, 123. 8. Denison, 211. 9. Boone, 291. 10. Saydel, 306.

Glenwood Girls Place Winners
6. Rachel Mullennax, 20:16.21. 10. Emma Hughes, 20:24.70. 17. Erin Schultz, 21:13.78. 21. Ryley Nebel, 21:36.35. 29. Karlee Raymond, 21:58.94. 32. Kaitlyn Carnes, 22:22.65. 40. Lauren Becker, 23:08.83.

Boys Team Results
1. Carlisle, 44. 2. North Polk, 59. 3. Atlantic, 107. 4. Harlan, 107. 5. A-D-M, 120. 6. Glenwood, 139. 7. Kuemper Catholic, 162. 8. Denison, 236. 9. Creston, 271. 10. Boone, 276. 11. Green County, 308. 12. Saydel, 326. 13. Perry, 353.

Glenwood Boys Top Place Winners
10. Sam McIntyre, 17:29.85. 17. Tyler Huey, 17:49.32. 21. Nathan Rohrberg, 18:04.01. 44. Nate Hughes, 19:19.99. 47. Brenden Godbout, 19:26.20. 50. Andrew Williams, 19:44.38. 57. Dillon Anderson, 19:53.76.