Susan Harman

Your Prep Sports

SOLON – Sophomore Peter Woodward and freshman Camille Mac made Liberty Lightning history Thursday in earning the school’s first berths at the state cross country meet.

 “Right when I looked around the corner up top when we’re in the chute I thought, ‘All right, I’m doing it now, I’m making it to state,’” Woodward said. “It’s a big deal.”

Mac finished seventh individually in the girls 3A race in a time of 19 minutes, 38 seconds. The top 15 individuals earned spots at the state meet on Oct. 28 in Fort Dodge.

“I’m very happy about that,” Mac said. “That was my No. 1 goal.”

She said she doesn’t really look at her accomplishment in big-picture terms.

“I just wanted to go to state,” she said. “It went pretty good. I’m kind of mad about being passed in the end.”

She was nipped by Solon’s Kiersten Conway, who finished two seconds ahead of her, but Mac still recorded her personal best time of 19:38.

“Camille obviously had a great race today,” Liberty coach Tonya McDonough said. “She ran exactly the way we planned.”

Mac and teammate McKenzie Logan, also a freshman, set out to pace each other as they have throughout the season, but Logan struggled and Mac had to set her own pace.

“Towards the end I was trying to pick it up in the second mile. Kiersten passed me so I tried to stay with her,” Mac said.  “I was kind of mad about that because I beat her before.”

McDonough said Logan struggled handling the game plan for such a big race.

“She’s young; she didn’t run in junior high,” McDonough said. “It’s tough not having juniors and seniors to help out and calm them down on a day like today. But we’ll learn. She’ll be back next year.”

The Liberty girls competed with just four runners, one less than needed to count in the team standings, but Mac said motivation this season wasn’t an issue.

“Our coaches take care of that,” she said.

Woodward finished ninth in the boys race in a time of 17:01. Second-ranked Myles Bach of Center Point-Urbana was the individual winner in 16:17. Mount Vernon-Lisbon, Grinnell and Center Point-Urbana were the boys team qualifiers.

Woodward, who’s had an outstanding season, said he took his cue from the three ranked teams in the field. Eight ranked individual runners were also in the field.

“I was in fifth place, I believe, for about the first mile and a half,” he said. “At the two mile the guy behind me passed, so I could pace off him.

“My goal was to get to state. I had a lot of people encouraging me.”

 “He came out of the woods at the half mile and I said ‘just run relaxed,’ and he did,” Liberty coach Josh Hildebrand said. “He stuck up there and did what he had to do.

“I think it helped us, we were right next to (seventh-ranked) Dubuque Wahlert and (fourth-ranked) Mount Vernon in the pack and we hadn’t really run too many meets against them. So that helped from the start, knowing who we had to run with.”

The top-10 finish by Woodward helped Liberty High to a ninth-place team finish with 231 points. Solon was 10th with 238.

Woodward put in the summer workouts and built up his base mileage in anticipation of challenging for a state meet spot. He ran eight miles usually and 10 on the weekend. Then he worked on his pace and cutting his time.

Woodward ran at West a year ago but wasn’t on the team that ran at state. Now it’s his turn. And his school’s.

3A State Qualifying Meet

At Solon Nature and Recreation Area

Girls Results

Team scores – 1. Dubuque Wahlert 47; 2. Grinnell 99; 3. Benton 106; 4. Davenport Assumption 111; 5. Solon 114; 6. Mount Pleasant 139; 7. Fort Madison 163; 8. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 177; 9. Center Point-Urbana 196; 10. South Tama 288.

Individual Results – 1. Adriana Katcher (CPU) 18:40; 2. Mary Blanchard (GRI) 18:43; 3. Gabby Moran (DW) 18:48; 4. Sophia Gilbert (BC) 18:56; 5. Abby Ryon (MP) 19:31; 6. Kiersten Conway (SOL) 19:36; 7. Camille Mac (ICL) 19:38; 8. Grace Herber (DW) 19:48; 9. Sierra Howardson (FM) 19:50; 10. Brett Schneider (FM) 20:03; 11. Kaylee Osterberger (DW) 20:12; 12. Anjali Jones (GRI) 20:20; 13. Emma Earles (DW) 20:21; 14. Julia Schumacher (DW) 20:22; 15. Aubrey Frey (MVL) 20:26

Solon – 6. Kiersten Conway 19:36; 17. Erin Kerkhoff 20:41; 27. Sophie Nicol 21:17; 29. Ella Duster 21:31; 35. Nicole Shafer 21:39; 49. Ashley Stinocher 22:33; 59. Saige Hauer 23:18.

Liberty – 7. Camille Mac 19:38; 44. McKenzie Logan 22:07; 72. Avery Clark 25:21; 73. Samantha Schildroth 25:32.

Boys Results

Team scores – 1. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 62; 2. Grinnell 69; 3. Center Point-Urbana 79; 4. Benton 105; 5. Dubuque Wahlert 124; 6. Mount Pleasant 146; 7. Fort Madison 170; 8. Davenport Assumption 205; 9. Liberty 231; 10. Solon 238; 11. West Burlington-Notre Dame 351; 12. South Tama 383; 13. Keokuk 389.

Individual results – 1. Myles Bach (CPU) 16:17; 2. Cody Mertens (MP) 16:28; 3. Thomas Clover (GRI) 16:39; 4. Trenton O’Halloran (GRI) 16:50; 5. Patrick Gorkow (BC) 16:53; 6. Thatcher Krob (MVL) 16:53; 7. Peyton Bahl (MVL) 16:56; 8. Aaron Steffensmeier (FM) 17:00; 9. Peter Woodward (ICL) 17:01; 10. Garrett Herring (MVL) 17:06; 11. Chris Guise (DA) 17:12; 12. Luke Post (CPU) 17:14; 13. Dylan Spina (BC) 17:16; 14. Joe Simon (GRI) 17:17; 15. Tristan Miller (CPU) 17:17.

Liberty (231) – 9. Peter Woodward 17:01, 42. Jack Kinzer 18:22, 57. Caleb Schillinger 18:57, 60. Iziah Poulsen 19:08, 63. Spencer Knight 19:25, 77. Gavin Hayes 20:42, 79. Gaven Forbes 21:47.

Solon – 38. Ethan Kober 18:14, 46. Carl Richey 18:30, 49. Payton Philipp 18:40, 51. Andrew Bransky 18:43, 54. Tyler Bilskie 18:52, 67. Edward Richey 19:37, 70. Brad Yeoman 19:48.

*- Top 3 Teams and top 15 individuals qualify for state meet