Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

IOWA CITY – Before the cross country season opened Rowan Boulter created a list of goals.

Some of the goals on the list were short term while others Boulter was aiming to reach before the end of her sophomore season.

Thanks to a pair of strong performances at Mississippi Valley Conference meets over the last week Boulter’s goal sheet will need to be amended before the start of the postseason.

Boulter clocked a career-best time of 18:54.5 on Thursday in a third-place finish at the Mississippi Valley Conference Mississippi Divisional meet at Ashton Cross Country Course.

A sub-19 minute performance was toward the top of the goal list that Boulter created in August.

“The beginning of the season I made that my end of the season goal, a few weeks ago I got pretty close to it and went 19:04 so that’s when I realized it could happen really soon,” Boulter said. “Knowing that the course was in good condition today I kind of thought it was possible.”

Boulter wasn’t far off her 19-minute goal at the Mississippi Valley Conference Super Meet a week ago despite windy and muddy conditions.

Despite the less than ideal conditions the City High standout finished sixth at the Super Meet in 19:23 at Kickers Soccer Complex in Iowa City last Thursday.

A week later, on a beautiful autumn afternoon, Boulter eclipsed her end of the season goal with relative ease finishing behind only the top-five ranked Dubuque Senior duo of Lillian Schmidt and Claire Edmondson at the Mississippi Divisional.

“Rowan is continuing to run with full confidence,” City High coach Ryan Ahlers said. “She is getting out a little bit more aggressive but still within herself and then she just uses her natural aerobic ability to continue to push the pace in the middle of the race. She is going to be a heck of a distance runner, she will be able to do whatever she wants in this sport.”

A self-described slow starter, Boulter immediately went out just behind the pace set by Schmidt and Edmondson on Thursday.

Boulter led a pack of four runners that included fourth-place finisher Izzy Gorton of Dubuque Senior and fifth-place Gabby Cortez of Cedar Rapids Prairie near the halfway point.

She built on that lead over the final mile finishing more than three seconds in front of Gorton and four seconds clear of Cortez who all broke the 19-minute mark on Thursday.

“A lot of times I start off behind people that I know I can beat and today I started off about third,” Boulter said. “I know that my last mile is a strength for me so I felt pretty good about where I was.”

The time of 18:54.5 for Boulter on Thursday was more than nine seconds faster than her previous career best time and more than 20 seconds faster than she posted in her last meet on the same course.

Two weeks earlier Boulter finished seventh at the Bud Williams Invitational at the Ashton course in a time of 19:16.48.

“Rowan is just still scraping the surface of where she can go in this sport,” Ahlers said. “I think if she continues to train and have the same outlook that she has on it she can be a great runner beyond high school so it’s fun to watch.”

Boulter will have a few new goals when she competes as the Class 4A state qualifier next Thursday in Cedar Falls where she hopes to advance to the state meet for the second consecutive year.

“She broke 19 for the first time, that was a big goal of hers but her goals are really starting to switch to who can I beat and that is what makes her special,” Ahlers said. “She is a great teammate she focuses on doing her best to help the team and that is all you can ask for from a top runner.”

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