Marion’s Jedidiah Osgood, Solon’s Kayla Young earn state cross country runner-up honors in Class 3A

FORT DODGE — It happens.

Marion’s Jedidiah Osgood ran a good race Saturday morning. But ...

“Obviously, Ethan (Eichhorn of Lewis Central) had a better day than I did,” Osgood said. “I knew I would have to run a super good race to win. But he ran a better race today.

“It’s not what I wanted, but it’s nothing to be upset about.”

Eichhorn tailed Osgood through the first 3 miles, and won a kick to the finish and claimed the Class 3A boys' individual title at Lakeside Golf Course in 15:32.

Osgood was clocked in 15:34.

“He had a stronger kick that I did,” said Osgood, who led Marion to a runner-up finish in the team race. “I did all I could.

“My first mile was 4:43, so I went out a little hot.”

Osgood, Eichhorn and Western Dubuque’s Isaiah Hammerand ran as a trio for the first 2 miles, then it became an Osgood-Eichhorn duel as they went up the final hill.

Hammerand finished third in 15:49.

Pella swept the team championships. The Dutch boys tallied 79 points. Marion was next with 115, followed by North Polk (123).

“Second at state is nothing to thumb your nose at,” said Marion Coach Matt Thornton, whose Wolves have done that two straight years. “Strong season for us. Jed had a phenomenal season. I just wish for him that it would have turned out a different way.”

The story of the morning session was Ballard’s Paityn Noe, who sizzled to a time of 16:48, beating the girls’ state-meet record by 35 seconds and besting her former all-time Iowa best by 21.

“I couldn’t be happier,” said Noe, who won her second straight title. “Going sub-17, that was my goal the whole race. I knew I was ahead, but I just kept thinking about time. I heard my coach yelling that I had 2 minutes left and I had to go all out.”

Solon’s Kayla Young outkicked Mount Vernon-Lisbon’s Lourdes Mason in the final stretch and earned second-place honors at 18:24. Mason was third in 18:27.

“My goal today was go get Lourdes,” said Young, who committed to the University of Northern Iowa on Monday. “She’s an incredible runner, but I wanted to get her today.

“I got a pretty good start, didn’t get trapped. At the top of the hill, with 300 yards left, I said, ‘It’s go time.’”

Mason said, “Actually, I thought it was Geneva (Timmerman of ADM) coming up on me. But Kayla, she’s been improving like crazy at the end of the year.

“I stuck to my game plan, stayed focused, kept my mind engaged and ran even splits. I wanted to be 20th at a mile and move up.”

Non-qualifiers in 2021, Pella’s girls jumped all the way to the top Saturday, scoring 91 points. Then it was Ballard (127) edging Solon (128) and Mount Vernon-Lisbon (129) in a tightly bunched race for second.

Washington (Iowa) was sixth, and Demons freshman Iris Dahl was seventh individually.

Class 3A Girls Results

Teams — 1. Pella 91, 2. Ballard 127, 3. Solon 128, 4. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 129, 5. Adel ADM 138, 6. Washington 190, 7. Clear Lake 212, 8. Glenwood 218, 9. Clear Creek Amana 223, 10. Center Point-Urbana 229, 11. Sioux City Heelan 257, 12. Gilbert 261, 13. Carlisle 264, 14. Harlan 272, 15. MOC-Floyd Valley 286.

Individuals — 1. Paityn Noe (Ballard), 16:48 (state-meet record and all-time Iowa best); 2. Kayla Young (Solon), 18:24; 3. Lourdes Mason (Mount Vernon-Lisbon), 18:27; 4. Geneva Timmerman (ADM), 18:40; 5. Marissa Ferebee (Pella), 18:50; 6. Lindsey Sonderman (Harlan), 19:10; 7. Iris Dahl (Washington), 19:20; 8. Avery Rump (Fort Madison), 19:23; 9. Ava Rush (Atlantic), 19:26; 10. Nakia Ollivierre (Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR), 19:27; 11. Annika Larson (Ballard), 19:31; 12. Haley James (ADM), 19:33; 13. Haidyn Barker (Clear Creek Amana), 19:33; 14. Emma Wilkerson (Center Point-Urbana), 19:35; 15. Claire Pellett (Atlantic), 19:38; 16. Lola Mendlik (Denison), 19:39; 17. Autumn Blink (Pella), 19:43; 18. Madelyn Berglund (Glenwood), 19:44; 19. Maya Bergstrom (Carlisle), 19:51; 20. Addison Doughan (Clear Lake), 19:56.

Class 3A Boys Results

Teams — 1. Pella 79, 2. Marion 115, 3. North Polk 123, 4. Carlisle 134, 5. Winterset 141, 6. Glenwood 154, 7. Gilbert 186, 8. MOC-Floyd Valley 212, 9. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 212, 10. Western Dubuque 231, 11. Solon 259, 12. Adel ADM 264, 13. Lewis Central 277, 14. Clear Creek Amana 300, 15. Fort Madison 375.

Individuals — 1. Ethan Eichhorn (Lewis Central), 15:32; 2. Jedidiah Osgood (Marion), 15:34; 3. Isaiah Hammerand (Western Dubuque), 15:49; 4. Zach Sporaa (North Polk), 15:51; 5. William Wadsley (Gilbert), 15:52; 6. Canaan Dunham (Pella), 16:00; 7. Tommy Tyynismaa (South Tama), 16:04; 8. Chase Lauman (Pella), 16:08; 9. Nathan VanderWaal (Pella), 16:09; 10. Bryant Keller (Glenwood), 16:09; 11. Mason Back (Winterset), 16:13; 12. Luiz Martinez (Storm Lake), 16:21; 13. Micah Rees (Washington), 16:26; 14. Grady Olberding (Mount Vernon-Lisbon), 16:28; 15. Max Sporaa (North Polk), 16:33; 16. Kade Diercks (Lewis Central), 16:41; 17. Alik McIlravy (North Polk), 16:42; 18. Trevor Mirande (MOC-Floyd Valley), 16:44; 19. Joel Ramirez-Parra (Storm Lake), 16:44; 20. Kael Streeter (Carlisle), 16:46.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com