Clear Creek Amana Sophomore Meskimen Caps Impressive Season With First State Medal
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
FORT DODGE – Prior to the state cross country meet Carson Meskimen had already put together a breakthrough sophomore season that included runner-up finishes at the WAMAC Conference and state qualifying meets.
On Friday Meskimen put the final touch on an already brilliant season.
Meskimen earned the first medal of his career with a 11th place finish at the Class 3A state meet at an overcast, cool and breezy Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
“Honestly the goal was just to be top 15, go get that medal and kind of just put the cherry on top of everything I’ve done this year,” Meskimen said. “My goal was to get sub 16 and I did that in one of my races and this is just the cherry on top for me.”
Meskimen finished 11th in a time of 16:03.5 more than 50 seconds faster than his state meet debut time from a year ago when he finished 37th.
The top 15 finish by Meskimen helped Clear Creek Amana finish 13th as a team with 280 points.
“Last year it really helped having Isaac (Sorensen) and Brock (Hilsman),” Meskimen said. “They were really my role models and I just tried to fall in behind them and that really helped me prepare for this meet and last year getting top-40 was a major confidence booster for me.”
The first career medal for Meskimen came in a historically fast Class 3A field.
Western Dubuque senior Quentin Nauman, an Oregon recruit, won his second consecutive 3A individual title on Friday in a state-record time of 14:48.3.
Defending runner-up Canaan Dunham of Pella was runner-up in 15:02.9 and Caleb Ten Pas of Des Moines Christian was third in 15:18.4.
“It’s crazy getting to run with Caanan (Dunham), Ten Pas and Nauman,” Meskimen said. “It’s such a blessing to be able to run with those guys.”
Meskimen finished 37th last season in 16:55.6 in his first trip to state.
He stayed with the lead pack for the opening mile on Friday and dropped nearly a minute from last year’s state meet time.
“He’s tough and gritty,” Clear Creek Amana coach Ben Robison said. “It’s just been six months of great summer training and he’s decided this is what he’s going to do and he’s going to commit to it and roll.”
The time for Meskimen came on a day with less than ideal conditions that included temperatures in the 40s and a steady, driving north wind.
“The weather change was pretty crazy, it was really windy and I was talking to coach Robison before about what I should do to approach the race and I decided if I was with someone to draft right off of them so I wasn’t taking the headwind and I think that really helped me,” Meskimen said. “I was able to push my way up from there.”
Junior Mason Miller finished 86th for Clear Creek Amana in a time of 17:31.5 while sophomore Micah Johnson was 93rd in 17:37.8.
Johnson was more than 30 seconds faster than a year ago.
Senior Caden Burkle was 95th in 17:39.9 and sophomore Kyle Vogel was 98th in 17:41.6 which was four seconds faster than his time from last season.
“I think they are going to be a little disappointed of a 13th place finish but I don’t think that is representative of what we did on the course, they really laid it out there,” Robison said. “We return four of the five scorers today and I think as young as they are next year we are going to be led by three juniors.”
Class 3A State Meet
At Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
Team scores – 1. Gilbert 71; 2. Mount Vernon/Lisbon 101; 3. Pella 109; 4. Des Moines Christian 139; 5. Central DeWitt 184; 6. Decorah 202; 7. Sioux Center 202; 8. Grinnell 206; 9. Davenport Assumption 207; 10. ADM 247; 11. Bondurant-Farrar 251; 12. Western Dubuque 263; 13. Clear Creek Amana 280; 14. MOC-Floyd Valley 287; 15. Storm Lake 295
Individual medalists – 1. Quentin Nauman (Western Dubuque) 14:48.3; 2. Canaan Dunham (Pella) 15:02.9; 3. Caleb Ten Pas (Des Moines Christian) 15:18.4; 4. Logan Bleich (Gilbert) 15:31.9; 5. Jacob Tallman (Gilbert) 15:38.7; 6. Carson Squiers (Gilbert) 15:47.8; 7. Cadel Conner (Grinnell) 15:57.3; 8. Dawson Scheil (Mount Vernon/Lisbon) 16:00.3; 9. Alex Torres (Vinton-Shellsburg) 16:00.4; 10. Isaac Rankin (Knoxville) 16:02; 11. Carson Meskimen (Clear Creek Amana) 16:03.5; 12. Gavin Weber (Algona) 16:12.3; 13. Kyle Olson (Central DeWitt) 16:15.5; 14. Sawyer Feldman (Mount Vernon/Lisbon) 16:15.8; 15. Josiah Sisler (Des Moines Christian) 16:16.7
Clear Creek Amana (280) – 11. Carson Meskimen 16:03.5; 86. Mason Miller 17:31.5; 93. Micah Johnson 17:37.8; 95. Caden Burkle 17:39.9; 98. Kyle Vogel 17:41.6; 108. Jackson VanHorn 17:51.9; 119. Nic Schieltz 18:13.5
Solon – 59. Spencer Michels 17:09.8
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