Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

FORT DODGE – The Clear Creek Amana cross country program has come a long way over the past four seasons.

No one has played a bigger role in the ascent of the Clear Creek Amana program than senior Nick O’Connor.

The first four-time state qualifier in Clear Creek Amana history, O’Connor left his final state cross country meet on Saturday with his first individual state medal.

O’Connor placed 11th overall to help Clear Creek Amana to its second consecutive Class 3A runner-up finish coming up one point shy of team champion Dallas Center-Grimes.

“Coming here and getting 14th with 300 some points my freshman year to losing a state title by one point, we’ve grown a lot in my four years,” O’Connor said. “It’s been amazing to be part of this team the past four years. I’m really happy with what we’ve been able to do.”

The final race was bittersweet for O’Connor who joined junior Brandon Barker in the top 15 as the Clippers had multiple medalists for the first time in program history.

However, top-ranked Clear Creek Amana finished one point shy of its first state title as Dallas Center-Grimes won the 3A title with 109 points.

Center Point-Urbana was third with 127 followed by Dubuque Wahlert with 156 and Marion with 174.

“I’m very happy, I really truly would have been happy with anything one through three today we knew any eight teams could do it today,” Clear Creek Amana coach Ben Robison said. “The depth of our program is continuing to come through and I am very pleased with that. I know the kids are a little disappointed but once we get on the road that is going to go away. Thy are a pretty dang good team.”

O’Connor was a freshman in 2016 when Clear Creek Amana placed 14th with 282 points in just its second state meet appearance ever.

The next season the Clippers were 10th before making the jump to second last season.

O’Connor has followed a similar path going from 62nd overall in his state meet debut to 27th the next two seasons before his breakthrough into the top 15 on Saturday.

“It feels great, I got my first three in track last spring and I just wanted to end strong and get one in cross country too,” O’Connor said. “It feels good to be able to do that.”

O’Connor finished in 16:29.5, just a second in front of Barker who was 13th in 16:30.7.

“I think I ran as well as I could have but I did not feel good,” Barker said. “I definitely had a lot less in me in the last mile than I had the past two weeks.”

Barker and O’Connor join senior Jack Sexton, who finished seventh last season, as the only state medalists in CCA history.

Sexton placed 18th overall on Saturday in a time of 16:40.3.

“I don’t want to take anything away from them and their talent level because it absolutely takes talent to be where we are at but they have bought into the training system, they do what they are asked to do and we preach process, process, process and they have bought into that,” Robison said. “They have worked very hard and they race smart. They take the plan that we st out and they following it and just go out and kill it.”

Sophomore Gavin Zillyette placed 34th overall in 17:00.1 and junior Caleb Alcorn was 57th in 17:15 to round out the scoring for the Clippers.

“The hard work we put in during the offseason and in the summer we put ourselves in a good position we just came up short today,” O’Connor said. “It’s tough to swallow but I think we finished it strong. I’m happy with what we did.”

Solon sophomore Gabe Hinman placed 35th in his second trip to the state meet, finishing in 17:00.1.

Ballard pulled away to win the Class 3A girls title with 57 points outdistancing runner-up Dallas Center-Grimes by 23 points while defending champion Dubuque Wahlert was third with 125.

Solon placed seven with 227 points behind sophomore Emma Bock who was 37th overall in a time of 19:56.4. and junior Kiersten Conway who was 38th in 19:58.2.

Clear Creek Amana freshman Haidyn Barker placed 63rd in 20:38 in her state meet debut.

Center Point-Urbana became the sixth runner in state history to win three titles claiming the 3A title in Adrianna Katcher 18:29.4.

Class 3A Girls

At Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge

Team scores – 1. Ballard 57; 2. Dallas Center-Grimes 80; 3. Dubuque Wahlert 125; 4. Harlan 168; 5. Sioux City Heelan 193; 6. Center Point-Urbana 198; 7. Solon 227; 8. Pella 236; 9. Decorah 240; 10. Grinnell 240; 11. Spencer 245; 12. Norwalk 255; 13. Charles City 269; 14. Glenwood 308; 15. ADM 321

Individual medalists – 1. Adrianna Katcher (CP-U) 18:29.4; 2. Shewaye Johnson (BAL) 18:40.3; 3. Paityn Noe (BAL) 18:44.4; 4. Megan Sterbenz (DC-G) 18:45.7; 5. Norah Pearson (Knoxville) 18:46.1; 6. Amber Aesoph (SCH) 18:49.9; 7. Abby Ryon (Mount Pleasant) 18:55.3; 8. Kiki Connell (CC) 18:57.4; 9. Emma Hoins (Waverly-Shell Rock) 19:07.3; 10. Ellie Meyer (Iowa Falls) 19:10.7; 11. Mary Blanchard (GRI) 19:14.8; 12. Alix Oliver (DW)W 19:15.3; 13 Ellie Twedt (BAL) 19:15.6; 14. Braelyn Baker (Creston) 19:16.9; 15. Kay Fett (CP-U) 19:19.2

Area qualifying Teams (Team placements)

Solon – 26. Emma Bock 19:56.4; 27. Kiersten Conway 19:58.2; 39. Mary Fiala 20:25.9; 66. Meghan O’Neill 21:11.8; 69. Aira Foster 21:22.4; 73. Kaia Holtkamp 21:32.7; 84. Nicole Shafer 22:04.8

Area individual qualifiers (Overall placements)

Clear Creek Amana – 63. Haidyn Barker 20:38

 Class 3A Boys  

At Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge

Team scores – 1. Dallas Center-Grimes 109; 2. Clear Creek Amana 110; 3. Center Point-Urbana 127; 4. Dubuque Wahlert 156; 5. Marion 174; 6. Gilbert 179; 7. Carlisle 179; 8. Decorah 188; 9. Norwalk 208; 10. Pella 225; 11. North Polk 236; 12. Humboldt 243; 13. Waverly-Shell Rock 265; 14. Atlantic 280; 15. Grinnell 288

Individual medalists – 1. Nate Mueller (ADM) 15:45.7; 2. Quinton Orr (HUM) 15:52.1; 3. Eli Larson (CP-U) 16:09; 4. Brady Hogan (DEC) 16:15.4; 5. Aidan Ramsey (DC-G) 16:19.9; 6. Josiah Wittenberg (PEL) 16:21.2; 7. Trey Gross (Harlan) 16:23.1; 8. Bradley Ramsey (DC-G) 16:25.2; 9. Luke Post (CP-U) 16:27; 10. Jacob Storey (DC-G) 16:28.3; 11. Nick O’Connor (CCA) 16:29.5; 12. Zach Sporaa (NP) 16:30.6; 13. Brandon Barker (CCA) 16:30.7; 14. Nathan Patel (GIL) 16:31.7; 15. Kolby Fritz (CAR) 16:33.7

Area qualifying Teams (Team placements)

Clear Creek Amana – 9. Nick O’Connor 16:29.5; 11. Brandon Barker 16:30.7; 16. Jack Sexton 16:40.3; 29. Gavin Zillyette 17:00.1; 45. Caleb Alcorn 17:15; 80. Daniel Henkle 18:02.8; 91. Brandon McCarty 18:23.2

Area individual qualifiers (Overall placements)

Solon – 35. Gabe Hinman 17:00.7

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