Benzing caps a perfect fall with a 2A title

**

RESULTS **FORT DODGE -- Lauren Benzing was content to wait. And pounce.Benzing completed an undefeated rookie season, coming on in the final mile and a half to claim the Class 2A girls' individual championship at the state cross country meet Saturday at Lakeside Golf Course.A sophomore at Solon High School, Benzing was clocked in 14:33, seven seconds ahead of Leah Seivert of Sibley-Ocheyedan."I didn't want to be in the lead right away," said Benzing, who came out for cross country this season after playing volleyball last fall. "Mentally, it might have been bad if I was in the lead and got passed."Instead, Benzing played the role of pursuer. And played it well.She took the lead from Seivert in the second mile and never surrendered it.Benzing knew precious little about cross country a few months ago. She wasn't even aware of the distance (it's 4,000 meters for girls)."I was at a cross country camp this summer. They asked me to write down my goals," she said. "I had no idea. I just wrote down 15 minutes."The team titles went to a pair of familiar area powerhouses.Union claimed the girls' crown for the fourth straight year while Iowa City Regina grabbed its eighth boys' championship.The girls' race was a four-team free-for-all. Union won it with 100 points, followed by Unity Christian (107), Regina (112) and Solon (116)."We've got great kids," said Union Coach Andy McQuillen. "Paige Sears and Ashley Frush have been here four years, and they are four-time champions. They're great leaders."We knew this was going to be a tight race, and it would come down to the fourth and fifth runners."Frush led the Knights by finishing seventh. Arden Betzer of Springville-Central City was fourth; Katerina Althoff of Cascade was sixth.Coming off an uncharacteristically low seventh-place finish last year, Regina zoomed back to the top Saturday. The Regals accumulated 106 points. Spirit Lake, which had runners place 1-2-4, was second with 125."This was meant to happen," said Brennan Bogert, a sophomore and the Regals' top runner, finishing 11th. "We knew we had to run our best, but I felt like this was going to happen."Coach Chad Swope said, "We felt that if we ran our race, anything was possible."Alec Baldwin led Spirit Lake's charge, finishing in 16:12.Solon, South Winneshiek and Monticello were third, fourth and fifth in the boys' race.