Healthy at last, Lions pull a shocker at Noelridge (VIDE0)

CEDAR RAPIDS -- Full strength, finally. And the result was shocking.Burdened by illness and injury all season, the Linn-Mar girls put it all together Thursday and won a Class 4A regional cross country title at Noelridge Park.Apparently free of anemia, Carolyn Newhouse captured the individual title and the Lions edged Iowa City West, 36-38, for the crown. Cedar Rapids Washington secured the third spot with 68 points."We beat West?" inquired a wide-eyed Newhouse, who was as surprised as anyone by the outcome. "Wow, we've never beat West before."Linn-Mar only figures to get better. Five of the seven Lions that toed the line Thursday are underclassmen, and the middle-school program is loaded.Newhouse pulled away after the first mile and won comfortably in 14 minutes, 41 seconds."I knew who the competition was, and I figured I should be ahead," Newhouse said.A few weeks ago, she wouldn't have been. She suffered through sluggish training throughout the summer before getting checked."I had low hemoglobin," she said. "I'm not sure how I got it, but the doctors said it might have been from not eating enough meat. I've been eating more, plus (taking) an iron supplement."Teammate Brooklynn Kascel, who finished fourth, missed a chuck of the season with a stress fracture in her leg. Thursday was the first time all season that all of Linn-Mar's pieces were in place.Freshman Morgan Uridil was fifth.The suspense in the girls' team race was for the title. For the boys, it was for the third state slot. Linn-Mar won that nail-biter, too, edging West, 92-93.Top-ranked Cedar Rapids Prairie blasted the boys' field. All of the Prairie scorers finished in the top seven, led by a 1-2 punch by twins Matt and Kyle Stocker.Prairie tallied 19 points, followed by Washington (54) and Linn-Mar.Matt Stocker passed his brother in the final 400 meters and crossed the finish line in 15:53. Kyle was timed in 15:58."I really thought he was going to get me today," Matt said. "He let up a little after we crossed the bridge, so I said, 'The heck with it. I'm going after it.' "The Hawks have achieved mini-rock-star status in the Prairie community. They ran in front of a large crowd of fans wearing black and orange Thursday."We definitely had a lot of support," Matt Stocker said. "That's more motivation to go out and do well."Justin Burns, Jordan Burns and Jacob Aune were third, sixth and seventh.Washington's girls qualified for the ninth time in the last 11 years under Coach Dave Coates, who will retire at the end of the season after 31 years.

CLASS 4A REGIONAL/DISTRICT

At Noelridge Park

(Top 3 teams, top 10 individuals advance to state meet Oct. 30 at Fort Dodge)

GIRLS RESULTS

Teams -- 1. Linn-Mar 36, 2. Iowa City West 38, 3. C.R. Washington 68, 4. C.R. Xavier 116, 5. C.R. Prairie 131, 6. Muscatine 167, 7. Waterloo West 184, 8. C.R. Jefferson 217.

Individual state qualifiers -- 1. Carolyn Newhouse (LM), 14:41; 2. Kate Kaster (Clinton), 14:57; 3. Molly Leveille (ICW), 15:03; 4. Brooklynn Kascel (LM), 15:11; 5. Brett Guerra (ICW), 15:12; 6. Morgan Uridil (LM), 15:17; 7. Pombie Silverman (ICW), 15:19; 8. Shannon Gorman (CRW), 15:21; 9. Ashlynn Yokom (ICW), 15:23; 10. Kristin Rogers (CRW), 15:23.

BOYS RESULTS

Teams -- 1. C.R. Prairie 19, 2. C.R. Washington 54, 3. Linn-Mar 92, 4. Iowa City West 93, 5. Clinton 148, 6. C.R. Jefferson 171, 7. Waterloo West 188, 8. Muscatine 198.

Individual state qualifiers -- 1. Matt Stocker (CRP), 15:53; 2. Kyle Stocker (CRP), 15:58; 3. Justin Burns (CRP), 16:11; 4. Etienne Nzoyisaba (CRW), 16:12; 5. Chase Grabau (LM), 16:13; 6. Jordan Burns (CRP), 16:18; 7. Jacob Aune (CRP), 16:27; 8. Robert Hogg (CRW), 16:28; 9. Emanuel Marcos-Teles (Clinton), 16:32; 10. Ryson Stuart (ICW), 16:33.