Running to state

CEDAR RAPIDS - The Xavier boys' and girls' cross country teams battled it out at the Mississippi Valley Conference divisional meet on Oct, 16 in Waterloo.

The girls' team placed fifth out of seven teams with junior Jenny Dickes leading the squad with a time of 16:00, good for seventh overall.

Sophomore Kiana Stanek finished second for the Saints and 26th overall with a time of 17:35. Sophomore Liz Hessman and senior Maddy Bailey crossed third and fourth for Xavier with times of 17:57 and 18:02. Sophomore Annie Sigmon and junior Lydia Brown also competed for the Saints. Sophomore Emiko Coffey did not finish due to illness.

The boys' team also placed fifth in the divisional meet. Junior Steven Culpepper led the Saints with a time of 17:28. Sophomore Nick Koechner crossed the finish line second for Xavier and 20th overall with a time of 17:50. Freshmen John Pape and Nolan Pithan, junior Jonathon Francois and seniors Evan Gradoville and Nick Jones also competed for Xavier.

The boys' and girls' cross country teams participated in the state-qualifying meet on Oct. 23 in Manchester. The girls' team finished fifth out of 11 teams with a score of 124 points. The average time for the team was 16:18. Dickes qualified for state and finished fifth overall with a time of 15:11.

'I'm extremely happy with how the team and I finished,” Dickes said. 'Everyone ran so well and improved their times.”

Coffey finished second for the Saints and 16th overall with a time of 15:53.

The boys' team finished fifth out of 12 teams with a score of 117. The average time for the team was 17:25. Culpepper qualified for state, placing sixth with a time of 16:41.

'I'm happy where I finished. I could have been better, but the goal was to make it to state and I did that,” Culpepper said. 'I'm proud of where the team finished. We had a lot of personal records, and everyone ran amazingly.”

Koechner finished second for Xavier and 13th overall with a time of 17:05.