Rams’ Berglund, Hebel punch tickets to state
Caitlin Hebel was eighth at Spencer to qualify for state for the first time.
Glenwood’s Grace Berglund and Caitlin Hebel placed among the top 15 individual place winners at the Class 3A State Qualifying Meet in Spencer last Wednesday to punc their tickets to this week’s Iowa State Cross Country Meet.
Berglund ran an 18:52 to finish third in Spencer and Hebel was 14th with a time of 19:43. MOC-Floyd Valley’s Natalie Anderson posted an 18:20 to win top individual honors.
Sioux Center was the girls team champion with 51 points and along with runner up Harlan, qualified for the state meet. The top two teams and the top 15 individual finishers qualify for the state meet.
The Iowa State Cross Country Meet runs Friday and Saturday at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge. Glenwood is slated to run in the Class 3A race at 2 p.m. Friday.
The trip to state is the third straight for Bergland. The junior placed eighth at state as a freshman and sixth last season.
This in the first trip individual state bid for the senior Hebel.
“Grace went out hard right away and went after it like she always does,” said Glenwood coach Marissa Klindt. “She was a little disappointed in the middle of her race and felt she could’ve raced that differently. She’s already making a game plan for next Friday’s state race.”
Hebel’s time of 19:43 is new personal record.
“Caitlin ran her best race ever,” Klindt said. “We were so thrilled for her when she crossed that finish line under 20 minutes. That’s been our goal for her all season
Megan Hughes placed 37th, Katelyn Harms 40th and Maggie McChesney 45th to round out the Glenwood girls scoring.
“The other girls did everything they could but a few of them were feeling a little off for several different reasons,” Klindt said. “We are of course disappointed that we didn’t qualify as team this year. We’re already thinking of what we’re going to do differently next season to make sure we get back to Fort Dodge as a team.”
On the boys side, Sioux Center captured the team title with a score of 33. Storm Lake was second with 72.
Algona’s Gavin Weber ran a 16:06, 14 seconds better than runner up Joel Ramirez-Parra of Storm Lake, to win the meet.
The Glenwood boys, consisting of senior Bryce Keller, four freshmen and two sophomores, placed 11th at the state qualifier with 261 points.
“These underclassmen will continue to learn to race and gain an understanding of the need to get out of the back of the pack of runners and get into a position that will make them more competitive,” said Glenwood coach Todd Peverill. “Due to their lack of experience, they lacked a sense of being competitive as a team although they continue to show personal improvement with five of the seven running PRs (personal records) in Spencer.”
Bryce Keller led the Rams with a time of 18:07 and a 39th place showing.
“Bryce was the only senior on the team for this meet,” Peverill said. “He was our No. 1 runner all season and his consistency encouraged the younger runners to continue to improve.”
Lucas Harms ran an 18:41 for 55th, Jaxton Long ran an 18:45 for 56th, Lucas Kauffman an 18:51 for 57th and Grant Sorensen an 18:57 for 59th to complete the Rams’ scoring.
“We will continue to look forward to the upcoming group of eighth graders to join the high school team next year as they bring their success from this season to the high school level,” Peverill said.
Class 3A State Cross Country Qualifier at Spencer
Girls Team Results
1. Sioux Center, 51. 2. Harlan, 102. 3. MOC-Floyd Valley, 108. 4. Bishop Heelan, 111. 5. Glenwood, 139. 6. Humboldt, 142. 7. Clear Lake, 205. 8. Spencer, 218. 9. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 231. 10. Storm Lake, 267. 11. LeMars, 280. 12. Denison, 291. 13. Algona, 304.
Glenwood Girls Place Winners
3. Grace Berglund, 18:52. 14. Caitlin Hebel, 19:43. 37. Megan Hughes, 21:49. 40. Katelyn Harms, 21:54. 45. Maggie McChesney, 22:02. 50. Bree Houser, 22:23. 57. Haylee Hughes, 22:48.
Boys Team Results
1. Sioux Center, 33. 2. Storm Lake, 72. 3. MOC-Floyd Valley, 91. 4. Spencer, 133. 5. Cleark Lake, 157. 6. Algona, 166. 7. Sergeant Bluff-Luton, 187. 8. Harlan, 189. 9. Bishop Heelan, 222. 10. Denison, 253. 11. Glenwood, 261. 12. Humboldt, 340.
Glenwood Boys Place Winners
39. Bryce Keller, 18:07. 55. Lucas Harms, 18:41. 56. Jaxton Long, 18:45. 57. Lucas Kauffman, 18:51. 59. Grant Sorensen, 18:57. 60. Cole Bergland, 19:00. 71. Leilynd Smith, 19:45.