Breaking Down the Class 3A State Cross Country Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
The second day of the two-day state cross country meet at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge kicks off on Saturday morning with the Class 3A races.
Classes 1A and 2A started the action on Friday with the two larger classes in the state concluding the meet on Saturday.
Both the boys and girls team races in Class 3A figure to be exciting and could have Your Prep Sports team pushing into contention with Solon and Clear Creek Amana each qualifying both their boys and girls squads.
Before the action gets underway on Saturday morning Your Prep Sports takes a closer look at what to watch at the Class 3A state meet.
Class 3A
Girls Race
Where: Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
When: Saturday, 10:30 a.m.
Qualifying teams: *Mount Vernon-Lisbon; Washington; Center Point-Urbana; *Gilbert; Sioux City Heelan; MOC-Floyd Valley; *Solon; Clear Creek Amana; Clear Lake; *Pella; Ballard; Carlisle; *ADM; Glenwood; Harlan
*-State qualifying meet champions
Individual state qualifying meet champions: Lourdes Mason, Sr., Mount Vernon-Lisbon; Peyton Morey, Soph., Spencer; Kayla Young, Sr., Solon; Paityn Noe, Sr., Ballard; Geneva Timmerman, Sr., ADM
2021 team top five: 1. Solon 77; 2. Ballard 103; 3. Dallas Center-Grimes 127; 4. Western Dubuque 165; 5. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 199
Last five team champions: 2021 – Solon; 2020 – Ballard; 2019 – Ballard; 2018 – Dubuque Wahlert; 2017 – Dubuque Wahlert
Returning state placewinners: 1. Paityn Noe, Sr., Ballard; 2. Geneva Timmerman, Sr., ADM; 5. Kayla Young, Sr., Solon; 6. Raegan Snieder, Soph., Pella; 11. Ava Vance, Jr., Ballard; 12. Peyton Morey, Soph., Spencer; 13. Moriah Knapp, Sr., Algona; 14. Alyssa Klein, Jr., Western Dubuque
Top ranked teams: 1. Pella; 2. Ballard; 3. ADM; 4. Mount Vernon-Lisbon; 5. Solon
Ranked area teams: No. 5 Solon; No. 8 Clear Creek Amana
Top ranked individuals: 1. Paityn Noe, Sr., Ballard; 2. Geneva Timmerman, Sr., ADM; 3. Lourdes Mason, Sr., Mount Vernon-Lisbon; 4. Lindsey Sonderman, Soph., Harlan; 5. Marissa Ferebee, Fr., Pella
Ranked area individuals: 6. Kayla Young, Sr., Solon; 13. Haidyn Barker, Sr., Clear Creek Amana
Team title race: The good news for Solon as it seeks a second consecutive state title is that repeat champions has been the trend in 3A in recent years.
Dubuque Wahlert won back-to-back 3A titles in 2017 and 2018 before Ballard claimed consecutive titles in 2019 and 2020.
Last season it was Solon that ran away with the 3A crown as the Spartans finished 26 points in front of Ballard.
Repeating will be a tough task in a balanced and top-heavy 3A field.
Pella enters top-ranked and may be a slight favorite as the Dutch are likely the most complete team one through seven.
Ballard has the individual favorite in senior standout Paityn Noe and returns another state medalist in junior Ava Vance who was 11th last season.
Solon will be in the mix with senior standout Kayla Young leading another deep Spartan squad while WAMAC rival Mount Vernon-Lisbon and ADM will likely be battling for spots on the Lakeside Golf Course balcony.
Individual title tracker: Already a three-time top three-finisher and defending state champion Noe is among the best in state history.
Noe owns the all-time state record for a 5-kilometer race blazing to a 17:09.8 at the Fort Dodge Invitational earlier this month at the same course she will run on Saturday.
Last season Noe finished more than 50 seconds in front of Geneva Timmerman of ADM who returns to the state meet this season and leads a group of runners that will chase Noe.
Solon’s Young is in that mix after emerging as one of the top runners in Class 3A last season.
A Northern Iowa commit, Young was sixth a year ago and will look to move into a crowded 3A top five this season.
Lourdes Mason of Mount Vernon-Lisbon, Harlan sophomore Lindsey Sonderman and Pella freshman star Marissa Ferebee will all battle for spots in the top five.
Area breakdown: Defending champion Solon enters ranked fifth and is seeking a third consecutive top-five finish.
The Spartans have a returning medalist in Young but will need to rely on its program depth to secure another top-three finish.
Solon hopes to have the services of junior Anna Quillin who was 19th at the state meet a year ago but missed the state qualifying meet with an injury.
The return of Quillin to the lineup along with the emergence of sophomore Sydney Dee to go with veterans Mary Fiala and Gracie Federspiel make the Spartans a dangerous team.
Clear Creek Amana returns to the state meet for the first time since 2004 led by three-time individual state qualifier Haidyn Barker.
Barker is seeking her first state medal in her fourth state meet race after improving her place each of the past three seasons.
After finishing 63rd as a freshman Barker was 33rd as a sophomore and a career-best 20th a year ago.
Strong races from sophomores Kira Barker and Sara Kinzenbaw would set eighth-ranked Clear Creek Amana up to push into the top half of a loaded 3A field.
Boys Race
Where: Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
When: Saturday, 11:15 a.m.
Qualifying teams: *Glenwood; Council Bluffs Lewis Central; ADM; *North Polk; Gilbert; MOC-Floyd Valley; *Pella; Winterset; Carlisle; *Marion; Solon; Clear Creek Amana; *Mount Vernon-Lisbon; Western Dubuque; Fort Madison
*-State qualifying meet champions
Individual state qualifying meet champions: Ethan Eichhorn, Jr., Council Bluffs Lewis Central; Zach Sporaa, Sr., North Polk; Chase Lauman, Sr., Pella; Isaiah Hammerand, Sr., Western Dubuque; Jedidiah Osgood, Sr., Marion
2021 team top five: 1. Dallas Center-Grimes 60; 2. Marion 62; 3. North Polk 153; 4. Pella 161; 5. Solon 190
Last five team champions: 2021 – Dallas Center-Grimes; 2020 – Dallas Center-Grimes; 2019 – Dallas Center-Grimes; 2018 – Gilbert; 2017 – Gilbert
Returning state placewinners: 4. Jedidiah Osgood, Sr., Marion; 9. Zach Sporaa, Sr., North Polk; 10. Tate McDermott, Jr., Dallas Center-Grimes; 11. Bryant Keller, Jr., Glenwood; 14. Brick Kabela, Jr., Solon; 15. Max Sporaa, Sr., North Polk. Class 4A: 13. Ethan Eichhorn, Jr., Council Bluffs Lewis Central;
Top ranked teams: 1. Pella; 2. North Polk; 3. Glenwood; 4. Winterset; 5. Marion
Ranked area teams: 11. Solon; 13. Clear Creek Amana
Top ranked individuals: 1. Jedidiah Osgood, Sr., Marion; 2. Ethan Eichhorn, Jr., Council Bluffs Lewis Central; 3. Zach Sporaa, Sr., North Polk; 4. Isaiah Hammerand, Sr., Western Dubuque; 5. Chase Lauman, Sr., Pella
Ranked area individuals: 23. Brock Hilsman, Soph., Clear Creek Amana
Team title race: With three-time defending champ Dallas Center-Grimes moving to 4A there will be a new champ in 3A.
This figures to be one of the more intriguing team races of the week with as many as five teams in contention.
Top-ranked Pella, which was fourth a year ago, enters as the favorite with last year’s runner-up Marion and individual favorite Jedidiah Osgood in contention along with North Polk who was third a year ago.
Solon finished fifth a year ago for a second consecutive top-five finish and enters ranked 11th while Clear Creek Amana is ranked 13th in its first appearance at state since 2019.
Individual title tracker: Osgood has been impressive all season and enters as the favorite in a 3A field that saw the top four finishers from a year ago graduate.
Make no mistake, Osgood is a major hammer and is the favorite to hold off a field of challengers led by Ethan Eichhorn of Council Bluffs Lewis Central who was 13th in the 4A race a year ago.
Zach Sporaa of North Polk finished ninth last season and joins Western Dubuque senior Isaiah Hammerand and Pella senior Chase Lauman as the top competition for Osgood.
Area breakdown: Solon returns to the state meet for the third consecutive season and has been successful in its past two trips to Fort Dodge.
The Spartans were runner-up in 2020 and finished fifth a year ago and will need a strong outing from top to bottom to match that finish in a balanced 3A field.
Junior Brick Kabela is a returning state medalist after placing 14th a season ago and can compete for more hardware while classmate Michael Yeomans has enjoyed the best season of his prep career.
Clear Creek Amana has a medal contender in sophomore Brock Hilsman who enters ranked 23rd after an impressive third-place finish at the state qualifying meet.
The Clippers are back at state after a two-year hiatus and with a strong finish can push into the top half of the 3A standings.
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