Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

The state cross country meet will have a new feel this season with the eight races across four classes being split between Friday and Saturday.

For competitors in the Class 1A races the feeling will be similar to past season.

Class 1A will once again serve as the state meet finale with the 1A girls race set to begin at 3:30 on Saturday afternoon at Lakeside Golf Course with the boys race to follow.

Before the gun sounds on Saturday afternoon we take a quick look at the 1A girls race and the impact Your Prep Sports area teams and competitors will have in the race.

Class 1A Girls

Where: Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge

When: Saturday, 3:30 p.m.

Team Qualifiers: *Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center; Montezuma; *AHSTW; Logan-Magnolia; *Hudson; Prince of Peace; *Mason City Newman; Nashua-Plainfield; *South Winneshiek; Kee; *Van Meter; Earlham; *Pekin; Regina; *Fort Dodge St. Edmond; Manson Northwest Webster

*-District Champion

Individual district champions: Peyton Pogge, Sr., Tri-Center; Reese Duncan, Fr., Council Bluffs St. Albert; Addison Grady, Jr., Hudson; Grace Lidgett, Soph., North Tama; Haley Meyer, Jr., Kee; Clare Kelly, Soph., Van Meter; Rylee Dunkin, Soph., Twin Cedars; Maddie Moline, Sr., Manson Northwest Webster

2019 Team Top Five: 1. Logan-Magnolia 112; 2. Hudson 133; 3. AHSTW 142; 4. Aplington-Parkersburg 146; 5. Regina 150

Last 5 team champions: 2019 – Logan-Magnolia; 2018 – Logan-Magnolia; 2017 – Hudson; 2016 – Central Elkader; 2015 – Central Elkader

Returning state placers: 1. Peyton Pogge, Sr., Tri-Center; 2. Haley Meyer, Jr., Kee; 3. Jalyssa Blazek, Jr., Turkey Valley; 5. Billie Wagner, Soph., South Winneshiek; 7. Rylee Dunkin, Soph., Twin Cedars; 9. Maddie Moline, Sr., Manson Northwest Webster; 10. Greenlee Smock, Soph., Lynnville-Sully; 11. Hunter Jones, Soph., North Cedar; 12. Annalee Bartels, Sr., Regina; 14. Sophia Broers, Sr., Nodaway Valley

Top ranked teams: 1. Hudson; 2. Pekin; 3. Regina; 4. South Winneshiek; 5. Mason City Newman

Ranked area teams: No. 3 Regina

Top ranked individuals: 1. Haley Meyer, Jr., Kee; 2. Billie Wagner, Soph., South Winneshiek; 3. Jalyssa Blazek, Jr., Turkey Valley; 4. Peyton Pogge, Sr., Tri-Center; 5. Clare Kelly, Soph., Van Meter

Team Championship Chase: It appears to be a three-team race between Hudson, Pekin and Regina for the 1A title.

Regina got an up-close look at both of its anticipated top competitors earlier this month, finishing in front of top-ranked Hudson at the North Linn Invitational and placing 10 points behind second-ranked Pekin at the state qualifier last week.

There is little separation between the top three teams on paper but past performance gives the edge to Hudson which was runner-up last season and is seeking a fifth consecutive top-three finish.

Regina has posted back-to-back 1A top-five finishes after dropping down from 2A in 2018. The Regals were runner-up in 2018 and fifth last season.

South Winneshiek has a standout in sophomore Billie Wagner and is a team to keep an eye on that could contend for a balcony finish.

Individual Title Tracker: The final girls race of the day could be one of the best with four of the top five finishers from last season back for another shot at the 1A title.

Each of the four top-five finishers from last season enter the state meet ranked in the top five.

Tri-Center senior Peyton Pogge is the defending champion and is seeking a fourth top-four finish at state.

Pogge was fourth in 2017 and runner-up in 2018 before finishing six seconds in front of Haley Meyer of Kee last season.

Meyer jumped from eighth as a freshman to runner-up last season and enters top-ranked this year after finishing more than 10 seconds in front of second-ranked South Winneshiek sophomore Billie Wagner at the state qualifier last week.

Wagner was fifth at the state meet last season as a freshman.

Don’t count out Turkey Valley junior Jalyssa Blazek who has finished sixth and third the past two seasons and currently sits third in the 1A rankings.

Regina senior Annalee Bartels is a two-time medalist that was fifth in 2018 and 12^th a year ago.

Area Breakdown: With back-to-back top-five finishes Regina has established itself as a 1A contender but the Regals have backed that up during the regular season with strong head-to-head showings against Pekin and Hudson.

Regina finished 19 points in front of top-ranked Hudson at the North Linn Invitational on October 10 and were 10 points behind Pekin at the state qualifier last week despite top runner Annalee Bartels not finishing the race.

Sophomore Mya Whitaker ran perhaps the best race of her career at the state qualifier finishing runner-up to last year’s seventh place finisher Rylee Dunkin of Twin Cedar.

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