Panther girls' team, two Monti boys reach State

   One team “took care of business,” according to Monticello cross country coach Dan Sauser. The other showed flashes of what figures to be a bright future.

   Those outcomes came about at the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet Oct. 19 at Monticello High School, where the Panther girls won the team title and qualified for the state meet, and two Monticello boys – sophomore Aedan Althoff and senior Alex Oswald also advanced to run in Fort Dodge.

   The girls won the title by two points, totaling 77 to Hudson’s 79. The top three teams in each race qualified for state; Tipton was the third qualifier with 106 points.

   “The girls knew what they needed to do, and they did that,” Sauser said. “But we’re going to have to have a better day at State.”

   Marisa Kehoe beat her previous personal record by 17 seconds while taking fifth place individually in 19:51.5. She said past experience in postseason meets helped.

   “I wasn’t as nervous,” Kehoe said.

   Fewer than two seconds behind her in sixth was Peyton Ries, who beat her previous season’s best time by 47 seconds.

   Leah Koehler and Ava Capron were 14^th and 15^th, respectively, followed by Halle Recker 41^st, Emmy Verhagen 46^th and Kaitlin Kunde 59^th.

   “Marisa and Peyton had outstanding races. It was their first time going sub-20 (minutes),” the coach said. “Leah and Ava each gave us a strong race.

   “I like where we’re at. It was a competitive field, and we’re happy that we’re going to be running Saturday.”

   The Panther boys didn’t qualify as a team, finishing fifth overall, but it wasn’t an unsuccessful effort.

   “Every single kid on that team ran a season’s best time,” Sauser said, “And all five that were veterans of the team set personal records.

   “They did everything right. They ran a great race across the board. I think there were five teams that were deserving to go to the state meet, but only three can go.”

   Althoff and Oswald each made the top 15, qualifying them for State individually. Althoff finished eighth in 17:05.6, and Oswald was 11^th in 17:12.8.

   “I felt like it was pretty good,” Althoff said of his race. I’ve still got some work to do, though.”

   Oswald said: “It was hard, but you’ve just got to push through it. We ran really well. It’s just that we had really tough competition.”

   They were followed by Alan Arriaga-Rangel in 22^nd place, Rylan Bertling 33^rd, Brennan Bohlken 41^st, Mace Schnoor 44^th, and River Smith 57^th.

   Althoff set a PR by 10 seconds, Oswald by 18, Bertling by five, Bohlken by 1:05, and Schnoor by 13 seconds.

   Arriaga-Rangel was the top freshman in the boys’ race, and set a season’s best by 40 seconds. Smith had a season’s best by 34 seconds.

   “We got Aedan and Alex through (to State),” the coach said. “Now, just have fun with it. No pressure, just race, and see what you can do.”

   The Class 2A portion of the state meet will be Saturday, Oct. 28 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. The girls will race at 10:30 a.m., followed by the boys at 11:15 a.m.

Oct. 19

Class 2A State

Qualifying Meet

(at Monticello)

VARSITY GIRLS TEAM SCORES

(State team qualifiers in bold)

     1, Monticello 77; 2, Hudson 79; 3, Tipton 106; 4, Crestwood 112; 5, Union, La Porte City 126; 6, Waukon 135; 7, Vinton-Shellsburg 191; 8, North Fayette Valley 195; 9, MFL MarMac 210; 10, Camanche 226; 11, Anamosa 264; 12, Alburnett 325; 13, Postville 370.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

(State individual qualifiers in bold)

     5, Marisa Kehoe, 19:51.5; 6, Peyton Ries, 19:53.1; 14, Leah Koehler, 20:13.2; 15, Ava Capron, 20:45.0; 41, Halle Recker, 22:05.3; 46, Emmy Verhagen, 22:19.9; 59, Kaitlin Kunde, 22:46.1.

VARSITY BOYS TEAM SCORES

(State team qualifiers in bold)

     1, Waukon 49; 2, Vinton-Shellsburg 58; 3, Anamosa 98; 4, Tipton 105; 5, Monticello 115; 6, Crestwood 146; 7, Alburnett 214; 8, Starmont 259; 9, MFL MarMac 283; 10, Hudson 284; 11, Union, La Porte City 287; 12, North Fayette Valley 289; 13, Northeast 292; 14, Postville 336.

MONTICELLO RESULTS

(State individual qualifiers in bold)

     8, Aedan Althoff, 17:05.6; 11, Alex Oswald, 17:12.8; 22, Alan Arriaga-Rangel, 17:58.5; 33, Rylan Bertling, 18:12.7; 41, Brennan Bohlken, 18:25.8; 44, Mace Schnoor, 18:29.8; 57, River Smith, 19:05.7.