Marion's Jeremy Fopma outlasts teammate for boys' cross country title

FORT DODGE — Marion juniors Jeremy Fopma and Myles Bach have been battling back and forth for as long as both can remember.

Last season, the Marion boys' cross country runners both placed in the top six at the Class 3A state championships, with Bach holding an upper hand in fifth place. At this year's Wamac championships, Bach again edged his teammate in a 1-2 finish for the title.

You could say Fopma owed him one.

Fopma outdistanced not only his teammate, but the rest of the 3A boys' field and raced to an individual cross country state championship in 16:02 Saturday at Lakeside Golf Course.

'It's awesome when you have somebody that is your own teammate that's good,' Fopma said. 'Then there is just a huge rivalry. You want to be the number-one person. He wants to be the number-one person. It goes back and forth a lot. You push as hard as you can and the other person pushes as hard as they can. We just boost each other.'

Fopma was initially swept up in a furious surge over the first two miles, which did not suit his pace and caused him to fall behind. Once he hit the two-mile mark, he quickly gained and eventually overtook the lead runners, including Bach.

'I just had to put in a surge and get some distance on him,' Fopma said. 'I was just going to run that last mile as hard as I could. It was awesome.'

Marion placed sixth overall in the boys' team standings with 184 points, well behind Mount Vernon-Lisbon, which won its second-consecutive state championship (86 points). Runner-up Grinnell was just two points shy of the Mustangs.

'We had no idea what the results were when we were standing together,' Mount Vernon-Lisbon Coach Kory Swart said. 'We were on edge there, and man was it exhilarating when you see those results go up and 'Mount Vernon-Lisbon' on the board.'

The Mustangs are capable of getting a standout performance from a different runner in just about every meet. Saturday was no different as junior Thatcher Krob popped a time of 16:33 for eighth place.

'Coach always told us we've got a target on our back,' Krob said. 'We just knew that teams were gunning for us.'

The Decorah boys placed seventh overall (191 points), while Cedar Rapids Xavier was eighth (205).

In the 3A girls' race, Center Point-Urbana freshman Adrianna Katcher closed a fantastic debut varsity season with a wire-to-wire victory in 18:27 for a rousing state championship.

'It was just an unbelievable experience,' Katcher said. 'I was in the lead basically the entire time, but I started to die in the middle. But toward the final stretch I figured out I was the only one there.'

Senior Josephine Berlage placed seventh in 19:08 for Decorah, which claimed its second 3A girls' team state championship in three years with 102 points.

'The rest of them just stepped up,' Decorah Coach Cristy Nimrod said. 'They knew what they wanted, they had their eyes on their goal and they really went after it.'

The Mount Vernon-Lisbon girls placed sixth in the team standings (203 points).

CLASS 3A GIRLS

Teams —

1. Decorah 102, 2. Pella 106, 3. Charles City 135, 4. Sioux City Heelan 144, 5. Dubuque Wahlert 147, 6. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 203, 7. Dallas Center-Grimes 209, 8. North Polk 212, 9. Humboldt 212, 10. Denison-Schleswig 222, 11. Gilbert 242, 12. Spencer 248, 13. Davenport Assumption 273, 14. Ballard 296, 15. Solon 327

Individuals — 1. Adrianna Katcher (CPU), 18:27; 2. McKayla Cole (Charles City), 18:40; 3. Julia Schumacher (DA), 18:43; 4. Joy Ripslinger (DA), 18:43; 5. Sophia Gilbert (Benton Comm.), 18:55; 6. Raegan Andersen (DS), 19:03; 7. Josephine Berlage (Dec), 19:08; 8. Ellie Friesen (Crestwood), 19:10; 9. Kourtney Delperdang (Spirit Lake), 19:13; 10. Mary Blanchard (Grinnell), 19:23; 11. Aubrie Fisher (Iowa Falls-Alden), 19:24; 12. Megan Sievers (Carlisle), 19:25; 13. Tess Roorda (Pella), 19:29; 14. Amber Aesoph (SC Heelan), 19:34; 15. Isabella Luu (Humboldt), 19:40

1. Decorah (102): 5. Berlage 19:08, 12. Katie Nimrod 19:47, 23. Jenna Galligan 20:10, 28. Shayla Betts 20:22, 34. Allie Hafner 20:34,

3. Charles City (135): 2. Cole 18:40, 17. Whitney Martin 19:57, 31. Mackenzy Bilharz 20:28, 40. Sarah Turpen 20:46, 46. Bailey Mitchell 20:54,

6. Mount Vernon-Lisbon (203):

26. Maggie Davis 20:21, 32. Hayley Corkin 20:28, 42. Shae Banwart 20:50, 47. Faith Anton 20:54, 56. Aubrey Frey 21:03

15. Solon (327):

51. Nicole Shafer 20:57, 60. Erin Kerkhoff 21:10, 66. Sophie Nicol 21:22, 69. Aira Foster 21:33, 81. Ella Duster 21:54

CLASS 3A BOYS

Teams —

1. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 86, 2. Grinnell 88, 3. Dallas Center-Grimes 142, 4. Gilbert 162, 5. Pella 173, 6. Marion 184, 7. Decorah 191, 8. C.R. Xavier 205, 9. Mount Pleasant 208, 10. Carlisle 228, 11. Humboldt 255, 12. Dubuque Wahlert 262, 13. Sergeant Bluff-Luton 266, 14. Clear Creek-Amana 282, 15. Sioux City Heelan 286

Individuals —

1. Jeremy Fopma (Marion), 16:02; 2. Myles Bach (Marion), 16:14; 3. Miles Scott (Sergeant Bluff-Luton), 16:16; 4. Thomas Clower (Grinnell), 16:20; 5. Dylan Cavanaugh (Storm Lake), 16:28; 6. Davis Flogel (Dub. Wahlert), 16:28; 7. Logan Murray (MP), 16:32; 8. Thatcher Krob (MV-L), 16:33; 9. Nick Bernhagen (Pella), 16:34; 10. Phoenix Shadden (Atlantic), 16:37; 11. J J. Orput (Carlisle), 16:37; 12. Alex Thompson (Dallas Center-Grimes) 16:37; 13. Trenton O'Halloran (Grinnell), 16:38; 14. Lucas Chamberland (Grinnell), 16:39; 15. Gus Hayes (Decorah), 16:41

1. Mount Vernon-Lisbon (86):

7. Krob 16:33, 16. Garrett Herring 16:48, 17. Chase McLaughlin 16:50, 21. Liam Conroy 16:58, 25. Zach Krogmann 17:07,

6. Marion (184):

1. Fopma 16:02, 2. Bach 16:14, 52. Harrison Vanderlinden 17:29, 61. Gavin Hiler 17:37, 68. Cole Hemann 17:46

7. Decorah (191):

13. Hayes 16:41, 29. Andrew Kephart 17:10, 47. Spencer Peterson 17:26, 48. Jackson Varney 17:26, 54. Jarod Phillips 17:31

8. C.R. Xavier (205):

15. Jonathan Lansing 16:44, 20. John Pape 16:55, 53. Mahlon Steepleton 17:30, 55. Nolan Pithan 17:31, 62. Joe Scieszinski 17:40

14. Clear Creek-Amana (282):

31. Wyatt Sedlacek 17:14, 46. Nick O'Connor 17:25, 50. Cole Liebe 17:28, 77. Ben Oxley 17:54, 78. Luke Wingert 17:56.

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