Decorah girls make it 3 in a row

FORT DODGE - Relatively speaking, this was a breeze.

Decorah captured its third consecutive Class 3A girls' state championship at the state cross country meet Saturday at Lakeside Golf Course. The Vikings edged Gilbert by whopping three points.

Compared to last year, when the Vikings beat MOC-Floyd Valley on a tie-breaker, they had plenty of room to spare. Never a doubt.

'We've just been coming togther,” said Amanda Taylor, one of four seniors on the team. 'We worked it out. I'm so excited to win it again.”

Decorah tallied 66 points, compared to 69 for Gilbert, which was led by champion Grace Gibbons.

Gibbons won her third title in three different classes, finishing in 14:37. She was the 4A champion at West Des Moines Dowling in 2011, then won the 2A crown at Gilbert last year.

But the Vikings had superior depth. Taylor was eighth, with Stef Bjerke, Josephine Berlage, Katie Perez and Linnea Kephart joining her in the top 30. And that got them by and extended their streak.

Gilbert's Thomas Pollard won the boys' race by more than a minute, finishing in 15:04 and leading the Tigers to a narrow victory, 73-78 over Mount Vernon-Lisbon. Pella (96) was third.

Pollard's effort was the best of the day in any class, by 20 seconds.

Center Point-Urbana's Josh Yeager was second, in 16:09.

'I tried to go with him as long as I could,” Yeager said. 'He just went out there and took it. But it's been an extremely awesome season.”

Mount Vernon-Lisbon's Reid Smock and Nolan Teubel were eighth and ninth.

'We ran so well,” Teubel said. 'I wouldn't trade this for anything.”

Shaelyn McEnany of Independence was the highest area finisher in the 3A girls race. She was sixth. Williamsburg's girls placed fourth.

STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

Saturday, at Lakeside Golf Course, Fort Dodge

CLASS 3A GIRLS

Teams - 1. Decorah 66, 2. Gilbert 69, 3. Davenport Assumption 125, 4. Williamsburg 130, 5. MOC-Floyd Valley 155, 6. Pella 163, 7. Ballard 249, 8. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 251, 9. Winterset 251, 10. Humboldt 269, 11. Sioux City Heelan 269, 12. Grinnell 272, 13. Vinton-Shellsburg 273, 14. Harlan 286, 15. Dubuque Wahlert 288.

Individuals - 1. Grace Gibbons (Gilbert), 14:37; 2. Abby Kohut-Jackson (Ballard), 14:55; 3. Joy Ripslinger (Dav. Assumption), 15:02; 4. Sienna DeJong (Oskaloosa), 15:10; 5. Carly Rahn (Gilbert), 15:14; 6. Shaelyn McEnany (Independence), 15:17; 7. Tiffany Williams (Atlantic), 15:18; 8. Amanda Taylor (Decorah), 15:18; 9. Ciara Buchheit (Pella), 15:20; 10. Julia Schumacher (Dav. Assumption), 15:20; 11. Lexi Smith (Dallas Center-Grimes), 15:25; 12. Stef Bjerke (Decorah), 15:25; 13. McKayla Cole (Charles City), 15:29; 14. Caroline Ascherl (MOC-Floyd Valley), 15:31; 15. Maddie Kampen (Humboldt), 15:31.

CLASS 3A BOYS

Teams - 1. Gilbert 73, 2. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 78, 3. Pella 96, 4. Grinnell 168, 5. Charles City 178, 6. Center Point-Urbana 191, 7. Dallas Center-Grimes 194, 8. Decorah 208, 9. Algona 209, 10. Sioux City Heelan 219, 11. Marion 255, 12. Vinton-Shellsburg 263, 13. Harlan 272, 14. Ballard 325, 15. MOC-Floyd Valley 331.

Individuals - 1. Thomas Pollard (Gilbert), 15:04; 2. Josh Yeager (Center Point-Urbana), 16:09; 3. Logan Murray (Mount Pleasant), 16:16; 4. Jackson Schulte (Grinnell), 16:17; 5. Wesley Greder (Gilbert), 16:19; 6. Ben Warner (Pella), 16:20; 7. Bradley Richard (Gilbert), 16:21; 8. Reid Smock (Mount Vernon-Lisbon), 16:23; 9. Nolan Teubel (Mount Vernon-Lisbon), 16:27; 10. Spencer DeJong (Oskaloosa), 16:28; 11. Alec Pavone (SC Heelan), 16:33; 12. Sawyer Burton (Pella), 16:36; 13. Cooper McDermott (Creston), 16:37; 14. John Shea (Waverly-Shell Rock), 16:39; 15. Thomas Clower (Grinnell), 16:39.

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