Solon Senior Young Caps Stellar Career With Runner-up Finish at State Cross Country Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
FORT DODGE – Kayla Young had an ideal experience in her debut at the state cross country meet last season.
Young earned an individual medal and helped Solon to the Class 3A state title in her first appearance at the state meet last fall.
In her state meet encore Saturday morning at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge the Solon senior enjoyed a picture perfect sendoff in the final race of her prep career.
Young earned a second individual medal with a runner-up finish while helping Solon to a third-place team finish at the Class 3A state meet.
“It’s like a happily ever after story,” Young said. “This has been such an incredible experience and I love running so much to be able to finish on such a high note is insane.”
Young finished runner-up to Ballard senior Paityn Noe who repeated as the 3A individual champion to help Solon earn a second consecutive top-three finish.
The Spartans were third in a tight 3A team race that had four teams separated by just 11 points behind team champion Pella.
“I don’t think you could have a better ending for Kayla,” Solon coach Emy Williams said. “Maybe if we won the team championship but for us to finish third I think for her as an individual she just ran such a smart race and what a great way for her to run her last race as a high school senior.”
With Noe the top runner in the state this season the obvious favorite to claim the 3A title, Young entered her final high school race with a top-four finish the goal.
She did a lot more than that on Saturday.
Young passed fourth-place finisher Geneva Timmerman of ADM and Mount Vernon-Lisbon senior Lourdes Mason who placed third in the final mile on her way to the runner-up finish.
“As soon as I passed (ADM senior) Geneva Timmerman around the two-mile mark I saw Lourdes up there and she wasn’t very far ahead of me,” Young said. “I figured I was going to try to get as close to her as I can. As soon as I got to the top of the hill I knew I could get her.”
Noe ran away from the field early and won the title in an all-time state record time of 16:48.58.
Young was second behind the historic effort from Noe.
“Honestly I kind of consider Peyton to be on her own level so I’m racing against everyone else,” Young said. “I knew I wasn’t going to beat her and good for her but I wanted to be at the top of the next level. Even if I don’t beat her I want to be the best I can be and be as close to her as I can.”
The 2021 state champion, Solon used its depth to secure a spot on the Lakeside Country Club balcony for the second year in a row.
Pella won the team title with 91 points and the next three teams were separated by three points.
Ballard was runner-up with 127 while Solon was third with 128, a single point in front of fourth-place Mount Vernon-Lisbon.
“Our goal was to be on the podium again,” Williams said. “To come back and repeat as state champs is a hard thing to do especially when you see what some of these teams have done this year. There were some fast times run today. It was great competition and I felt like our girls went and competed today and that’s what the state meet is about is going and competing.”
Senior Mary Fiala was 36th in a time of 20:20.81 and sophomore Sydney Dee finished 40th in 20:26.27.
“Going into it it was just running as a pack was our main goal today,” Fiala said. “A lot of us had
and I think we did that pretty well.”
Senior Mara Duster was the fourth Solon finisher on Saturday placing 58th in a time of 20:42.86 and was followed by junior Gracie Federspiel who was 60th in 20:46.5.
“I am so happy with what we were able to accomplish this year,” Fiala said. “We did so well and worked so hard. I’m so happy and proud of all of our team.”
The Solon boys placed 11th in the 3A race with 259 points.
Pella won the boys team title with 79 points while Marion was runner-up with 115 and North Polk was third with 123.
Junior Brick Kabela led Solon placing 22nd in a time of 16:49.15 while Michael Yeomans was 40th in 17:09.09.
Class 3A State Meet
Girls Results
Team scores – 1. Pella 91; 2. Ballard 127; 3. Solon 128; 4. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 129; 5. ADM 138; 6. Washington 190; 7. Clear Lake 212; 8. Glenwood 218; 9. Clear Creek Amana 223; 10. Center Point-Urbana 229; 11. Sioux City Heelan 257; 12. Gilbert 261; 13. Carlisle 164; 14. Harlan 272; 15. MOC-Floyd Valley 286.
Individual leaders – 1. Paityn Noe (BAL) 16:48.58; 2. Kayla Young (SOL) 18:24.13; 3. Lourdes Mason (MV-L) 18:27.32; 4. Geneva Timmerman (ADM) 18:40.31; 5. Marissa Ferebee (PEL) 18:50.29; 6. Lindsey Sonderman (HAR) 19:10.04; 7. Iris Dahl (WAS) 19:20.71; 8. Avery Rump (Fort Madison) 19:23.08; 9. Ava Rush (Atlantic) 19:26.78; 10. Nakia Ollivierre (Iowa Falls) 19:27.45; 11. Annika Larson (BAL) 19:31.87; 12. Haley James (ADM) 19:33.13; 13. Haidyn Barker (CCA) 19:33.61; 14. Emma Wilkerson (CP-U) 19:35; 15. Claire Pellett (Atlantic) 19:38.96
Solon (128) – 2. Kayla Young 18:24.13; 36. Mary Fiala 20:20.81; 40. Sydney Dee 20:26.27; 58. Mara Duster 20:42.86; 60. Gracie Federspiel 20:46.5; 82. Anna Quillin 21:04.57; 106. Ashlyn Williams 21:41.42
Clear Creek Amana (223) – 13. Haidyn Barker 19:33.61; 59. Sara Kinzenbaw 20:43.93; 65. Kiera Rogers 20:52.79; 80. Kira Barker 21:01.86; 108. Harper Tecklenburg 21:42.45; 128. Eva Leighton-Dick 22:38.87
Boys Results
Team scores – 1. Pella 79; 2. Marion 115; 3. North Polk 123; 4. Carlisle 134; 5. Winterset 141; 6. Glenwood 154; 7. Gilbert 186; 8. MOC-Floyd Valley 212; 9. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 212; 10. Western Dubuque 231; 11. Solon 259; 12. ADM 264; 13. Council Bluffs Lewis Central 277; 14. Clear Creek Amana 300; 15. Fort Madison 375
Individual leaders – 1. Ethan Eichhorn (CBLC) 15:32.43; 2. Jedidiah Osgood (MAR) 15:34.17; 3. Isaiah Hammerand (WD) 15:49.1; 4. Zach Sporaa (NP) 15:51.24; 5. William Wadsley (GIL) 15:52.45; 6. Canaan Dunham (PEL) 16:00.62; 7. Tommy Tyynismaa (ST) 16:04.9; 8. Chase Lauman (PEL) 16:08.77; 9. Nathan VanderWaal (PEL) 16:09.33; 10. Bryant Keller (GLE) 16:09.37; 11. Mason Back (WIN) 16:13.9; 12. Luiz Martinez (Storm Lake) 16:21.24; 13. Micah Rees (Washington) 16:26.82; 14. Grady Olberding (MV-L) 16:28.29; 15. Max Sporaa (NP) 16:33.18
Solon (259) – 22. Brick Kabela 16:49.15; 40. Michael Yeomans 17:09.09; 87. Grant Bumsted 17:47.35; 93. Lawsin Sinnwell 17:57.68; 94. Evan Burg 17:58.28; 116. Camden Lyons 18:36.25; 121. Wyatt Applegarth 18:50.39
Clear Creek Amana (300) – 30. Brock Hilsman 16:59.1; 81. Thomas Stiltner 17:41.45; 82. Jamie Hayes 17:42.01; 97. Peyton Stadler 17:58.65; 100. Isaac Sorensen 18:02.02; 112. Logan Kafter 18:21.71; 124. Cameron Kimm 19:12.52
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