Solon girls capture 3A cross country title

FORT DODGE — How does a team go from merely great to elite?

Here’s one recipe:

One runner (say, Emma Bock) goes from a triple-digit finish one year to top 10 the next.

Another (Kayla Young, perhaps) goes from JV runner to top five.

Everybody else steps in line and creates superior depth.

And there you have it. Say hello to your state-champion Solon Spartans.

Young and Bock made gigantic leaps, and Solon rolled to the Class 3A girls’ title at the Iowa high school state cross country meet Friday afternoon.

“I’m on top of the world,” Young said. “When we got together at the beginning of the season, we wanted to be conference champions, district champions, state champions.

“Now, we’ve checked all of the boxes.”

Check, check, check.

Young placed fifth, Bock was ninth and Solon posted a 77-point score to unseat last year’s champion, Ballard (103 points). Dallas Center-Grimes (127), Western Dubuque (165) and Mount Vernon-Lisbon (199) rounded out the top five.

“What those girls did today, it was amazing,” Solon Coach Emy Williams said. “The way they ran at the state-qualifying meet (last week), I thought this was possible.”

Now it’s reality.

Bock finished 102nd here last year, and Young was a junior-varsity runner — “She may have been in class when we were here last year,” Williams said — but they were the Spartans’ pacesetters Friday.

“I knew a bunch of girls would go out really fast,” Young said. “I trusted myself. I wanted to get a good start, but not too good.”

Bock said, “I really wanted to come back and prove myself today. Last year wasn’t my best.”

Anna Quillin was 19th.

Ballard junior Peyton Noe was the individual champion; her 18:12 effort led the field by 54 seconds. Noe was third as a freshman, second last year.

Eighth-place Kora Katcher of Center Point-Urbana had a nice bounce-back race after collapsing at the state qualifier.

She went to the hospital after the race with dehydration and a migraine.

“Not bad for taking four days off,” she said. “I’m very, very happy. I just tried to control my breathing.”

Marion’s boys nearly matched the state-title feat of the Solon girls. The Wolves were edged by Dallas Center-Grimes, 60-62.

“I’m a little disappointed; we really wanted to win it,” said Shane Erb, the third-place individual finisher (Jedidiah Osgood was fifth). We all could have run better. We just have to accept it and move on.“

Aidan Ramsey of Dallas Center-Grimes pulled away from Center Point-Urbana’s Eli Larson in the final half-mile to claim individual honors in 15:36. Larson finished 15:44, Erb in 15:48.

But still ...

“This is all I dreamed of,” Larson said. “Actually, I didn’t even have these dreams. I didn’t start running until freshman year. Then I made that crazy jump as a sophomore.”

Larson finished third as a sophomore, fourth last year. He and Erb were right in the mix most of the race.

“(Ramsey) went with 800 to go and I couldn’t match it,” Larson said. “But I’m still proud of my race.”

So was Erb.

“That’s the most fun I’ve ever had,” he said. “I took the lead for about 10 seconds. That was fun.”

Eli Naumann of Western Dubuque ran a 4:47 first mile and finished sixth. Lance Sobaski of Washington (Iowa) was eighth.

Solon finished fifth in the boys’ team standings. Western Dubuque, Decorah and Mount Vernon-Lisbon were eighth, ninth and 11th.

CPU’s girls were 12th, Marion 15th.

CLASS 3A STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

At Fort Dodge (Lakeside Golf Course)

GIRLS RESULTS

Teams — 1. Solon 77, 2. Ballard 103, 3. Dallas Center-Grimes 127, 4. Western Dubuque 165, 5. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 199, 6. Carlisle 205, 7. Harlan 212, 8. MOC-Floyd Valley 221, 9. North Polk 222, 10. Spencer 232, 11. Glenwood 239, 12. Center Point-Urbana 242, 13. Gilbert 249, 14. Dubuque Wahlert 265, 15. Marion 267.

Individuals — 1. Paityn Noe (Ballard), 18:12; 2. Geneva Timmerman (Adel ADM), 19:06; 3. Ainsley Erzen (Carlisle), 19:13; 4. Emily Haverdink (MOC-FV), 19:16; 5. Kayla Young (Solon), 19:19; 6. Reagan Snieder (Pella), 19:27; 7. Kaia Bieker (Harlan), 19:29; 8. Kora Katcher (CPU), 19:29; 9. Emma Bock (Solon), 19:30; 10. Lilly Boge (Western Dubuque), 19:30; 11. Ava Vance (Ballard), 19:32; 12. Peyton Morey (Spencer), 19:34; 13. Moriah Knapp (Algona), 19:35; 14. Alyssa Klein (Western Dubuque), 19:36; 15. Ellie Meyer (Wahlert), 19:36; 16. Lindsey Sonderman (Harlan), 19:41; 17. Kinze Shea (Crestwood), 19:45; 18. Laura Swart (MV-L), 19:46; 19. Anna Quillin (Solon), 19:49; 20. Haidyn Barker (Clear Creek Amana), 19:49.

BOYS RESULTS

Teams — 1. Dallas Center-Grimes 60, 2. Marion 62, 3. North Polk 153, 4. Pella 161, 5. Solon 190, 6. MOC-Floyd Valley 191, 7. Carlisle 205, 8. Western Dubuque 224, 9. Decorah 234, 10. Glenwood 235, 11. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 243, 12. Newton 251, 13. Adel ADM 257, 14. Sioux Center 261, 15. Charles City 365.

Individuals — 1. Aidan Ramsey (DCG), 15:36; 2. Eli Larson (CPU), 15:44; 3. Shane Erb (Marion), 15:48; 4. Jackson Mace-Maynard (Newton), 16:06; 5. Jedidah Osgood (Marion), 16:06; 6. Eli Naumann (Western Dubuque), 16:11; 7. Sam May (MOC-FV), 16:12; 8. Lance Sobaski (Washington), 16:20; 9. Zach Sporaa (North Polk), 16:27; 10. Tate McDermott (DCG), 16:28; 11. Bryant Keller (Glenwood), 16:31; 12. Cooper Greenslade (ADM), 16:35; 13. Blake Roling (Marion), 16:35; 14. Brick Kabela (Solon), 16:35; 15. Max Sporaa (North Polk), 16:35; 16. Patrick DeRonde (Oskaloosa), 16:36; 17. Josiah Witterberg (Pella), 16:39; 18. Gabe Hinman (Solon), 16:44; 19. Jacob Ewers (DCG), 16:49; 20. Luiz Martinez (Storm Lake), 16:50.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com