Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Runners exceed expectations at state qualifying meet
Kamryn Ebel competes at the state qualifying meet, finishing 57th in a time of 26:06.
Gracie Knobloch runs the final phase of the course at the state qualifying meet, finishing 45th overall.
In the final race of his high school career, senior Bryce Dodge ran a time of 19:41 at the state qualifying meet.
Aiden Bush nears the final approach to the finish line at the state qualifying meet, where he finished 63rd.
Year-to-year comparisons of athletic performance are not always a true measure of progress, but scoring for Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn's cross country teams at the state qualifying meet on Oct. 20 suggests things are trending in the right direction.
That is especially true of the H-M-S boys, who lowered their overall score from 434 in 2020 to 294 in 2021, and now to 228. The Hawk girls also put up some fast times.
"I truly couldn't have asked for more out of our teams that competed at Holstein. A majority of our athletes ran either lifetime or season's bests," said Hawk coach Kirsten Taylor. "It was a perfect day for our kids to compete and they ran beyond my expectations."
Junior George Vargas was H-M-S's highest finisher, placing 26th in a time of 19:02. Senior Bryce Dodge ran a time of 19:41 to place 40th. Both ran faster than they did a year ago.
Two sophomores who improved their qualifying meet times were Blaine Finster, 58th, 21:12; and Damian Dodge, 59th, 21:16. Also competing were sophomores Aiden Bush, 63rd, 21:39; and Ryan Grotluschen, 64th, 21:42.
Overall, the Hawks met their goal of an improved team finish.
"We set a goal with the boys' team to finish in the single digits and we placed ninth. Our boys finished 14th last year," Taylor observed. "Improving our team score by five spots is quite telling that our boys were a stronger unit this season."
Ogden and Sioux Central qualified their teams for the state meet, scoring 57 and 82 points. Other team scores were Riverside 88, Sibley-Ocheyedan 116, MMCRU 137, Hinton 182, Ridge View 196, Alta-Aurelia 204, H-M-S 228, Akron-Westfield 243, Trinity Christian 252, Gehlen Catholic 265 and South O'Brien 313.
Junior Lexi Croatt placed 31st to lead the Hawk girls' squad. Her time of 23:23 was faster than she ran as a freshman. Sophomore Gracie Knobloch also ran a faster time to place 45th, 25:02.
Sophomore Kamryn Ebel placed 57th, 26:06; senior Juliana Pasillas came in 63rd, 27:08; and freshman Clara Funk was 68th, 28:07.
H-M-S's team results remained steady. Their 239 points and 10th-place finish compare with 258 points and 11th place in 2021.
Sibley-Ocheyedan topped Alta-Aurelia, 50-57, to win the girls' title. Ogden edged Riverside, 112-113, for third, followed by Sioux Central 136, Lawton-Bronson and Ridge View 149, Hinton 183, South O'Brien 221, H-M-S 239 and Westwood 304.
Taylor saw good things from the entire squad this fall.
"We were still a young team having only two seniors on our squad. Bryce and Juliana are great young leaders in our school and did a wonderful job steering our cross country teams to success," she said. "We put up faster times than last season collectively, which is what any coach strives for. We had multiple athletes medal at meets and had two finish all-conference for the first time [Croatt and Vargas]. Our training was a bit different this season, and it proved to pay off."
