Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports

FORT DODGE – It is well known in cross country that the state meet can be a little unpredictable.

As a four-time state qualifier West High senior Bailey Nock knows that better than most.

A year ago, Nock was the state meet surprise, winning the Class 4A title after entering ranked fourth.

Nock entered the state meet top-ranked this season but was on the other end of a state meet shocker on Saturday finishing runner-up behind 12th ranked Johnston sophomore Paige Horner at the Class 4A state cross country meet at Lakeside Golf Courae in Fort Dodge.

“I went into this race ranked fourth last year and you can’t plan for the people that come out of nowhere,” Nock said. “I think I should have gone into it with more of a wide range of who I thought could contend for it because I kind of just had these set girls and she wasn’t in there but she was today.”

Last year Nock edged Jessica McKee of Johnston by 3.1 seconds to claim the 4A title.

On Saturday Nock was 11 seconds faster than third-place McKee but it was Horner who shocked the field, cruising to her first 4A crown in 18:04.3.

Nock was second in 18:19.9, 13 seconds off her state meet pace from last season.

“You can plan for months for state, you can plan for an entire year for state but you can’t decide the weather, you can’t decide all the things you can use as excuses,” Nock said. “I’ve been planning for this since last year but I’m happy for her that she gets to feel the feeling I got to feel for a whole year.”

A runner-up finish wasn’t the goal for Nock on Saturday but she won’t let the second-place finish take the luster off a career that ranks among the best in a storied West High history.

Nock ends her career with four top-seven state finishes, including a trio of top-three performances.

Nock was third as a freshman and seventh as a sophomore before placing first and second the past two seasons.

“It wasn’t the way I wanted it to go at all,” Nock said. “You always imaging ending your four years with a big triumph but it can’t happen to everybody. I’m definitely happy with how the season went, I had the best season I’ve ever had. I’m not going to define my season by this race even though I really, really wanted to win.”

Nock came to the state meet unbeaten this season against Iowa competition and attempting to become the third two-time state champion in West High history.

Instead Horner, who was seventh at state last season as a freshman, become the first underclassmen to win the 4A title since Pleasant Valley’s McKenzie Yanek in 2013.

“I don’t see any parts of the race where I’m thinking ‘I should have done this’,” Nock said. “I kind of race in my head who is going to be where and you can’t do that for state because people come out of nowhere.”

Horner led three Johnston runners that placed in the top four as the Dragons finished with 74 points to claim their third straight 4A team title.

Freshman Kiara Malloy-Salgado placed 24th for West High in a time of 19:29 as the Women of Troy finished fifth with 181 points while City High was 11th with 222.  

Junior Deniz Ince was 41st for West High while senior Colleen Bloeser was 51st followed by the freshmen trio of Erica Buettner (63rd), Katie Hoefer (90th) and Lucy Westemyer (100th).

“The freshman this year have been outstanding, they have been insanely hard-working in getting up to this level,” Nock said. “It’s insane how much work they have put in to get where they are.”

State Cross Country Meet

At Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge

Class 4A Girls

Team scores – 1. Johnston 74; 2. Dubuque Senior 118; 3. Waukee 154; 4. Dubuque Hempstead 168; 5. West High 181; 6. Urbandale 191; 7. Linn-Mar 198; 8. Des Moines Roosevelt 203; 9. Cedar Falls 207; 10. Pleasant Valley 220; 11. City High 222; 12. West Des Moines Dowling 228; 13. Ankeny Centennial 242; 14. Ottumwa 255; 15. Southeast Polk.

Individual Medalists – 1. Paige Horner (Johnston) 18:04.3; 2. Bailey Nock (West High) 18:19.9; 3. Jessica McKee (Johnston) 18:31.3; 4. Brooke McKee (Johnston) 18:44.8; 5. Kylie Latham (Ottumwa) 18:48.5; 6. Helen Gould (West Des Moines Valley) 18:50.3; 7. Laurdyn Meyer (Cedar Rapids Prairie) 18:50.9; 8. Reagan Gorman (Cedar Rapids Washington) 18:51.7; 9. Peyton Kelderman (Waukee) 18:52.6; 10. Lilly Geelan (Linn-Mar) 18:53.5; 11. Mia Rampton (Dubuque Senior) 18:57.5; 12. Sydney Schaffer (Waukee) 19:06.2; 13. Trinity Borland (Bettendorf) 19:09.2; 14. Mackenzie Michael (Cedar Falls) 19:09.4; 15. Hannah Brown (Dubuque Hempstead) 19:10.6.

West High – 2. Bailey Nock 18:19.9; 24. Kiara Malloy-Salgado 19:48.5; 41. Deniz Ince 19:48.5; 51. Colleen Bloeser 19:57.4; 63. Erica Buettner 20:08.3; 90. Katie Hoefer 20:46.1; 100. Lucy Westemeyer 21:03.6.

City High – 23. Amelia Morrow 19:27.6; 39. Aly Hecker 19:47.6; 40. Esti Brady 19:48.2; 58. Kinsee Brands 20:05.6; 62. Bridget Brown 20:07.2; 77. Anna Lindower 20:17.7; 92. Annalise Rummelhart 20:48.4.