North Cedar shooting for cross country first

CLARENCE - A potential first could be in store Thursday for the North Cedar girls' cross country team.

The Knights have had individuals qualify for the state meet, but have never had a girls' team run at the meet.

This could finally be the year.

The seven outstanding runners on the varsity team have an exceptional opportunity to finish with a big success. On Thursday, North Cedar will compete in a Class 2A regional meet in Iowa City, the deciding factor for the team.

The top five runners will be put to the challenge and they will have to place first, second or third as a team to achieve the goal of making it to the state cross country meet.

Senior Tessa Fields has been in cross country for four years. She made it to the state individually her freshman and sophomore years.

'It would be a super neat experience if we could qualify for the state cross country meet as a team,” Fields said. 'We would be making history.”

The extensive training at practices will all be worth it if the Knights can make their mark.

'This has been the toughest year of practices that I have experienced,” senior Grace Proesch said. 'One day at practice we all had to run 20 400s on the track while having a goal time to reach. However so far the practices have been paying off and I feel like I am in good shape and ready to run a personal record at the regionals meet.”

Other varsity runners are Cassie Cox, Kiley Chapman, Carly Montz, Karly Cerda and Hailey Fall.

North Cedar started the season in August, placing fifth at Mount Vernon as the top 2A team. As the season progressed, the Knights beat seventh-ranked Bellevue Marquette at Midland and moved in rankings from 13th after the Tipton meet to sixth after the Center Point-Urbana meet.

In order to reach their goal, the Knights will have to step up and dominate on Thursday.

The state meet is Oct. 28 in Fort Dodge.