Liberty High Junior Decker Races to Third Place Finish in Historicly Fast Class 4A State Cross Country Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
FORT DODGE – Prior to this weekend two boys in state history had broken the 15-minute barrier at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Meet.
That total doubled in two days in Fort Dodge this week and Liberty High junior Keegan Decker was part of that history-making stretch.
Decker was one of four runners to break 15 minutes at the Class 4A state meet on Saturday finishing third in a time of 14:59 at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
“It’s insane, the state has never been this fast and it’s great to be a part of that,” Decker said. “It’s insane how fast people are running right now.”
Cedar Falls senior Jaden Merrick won the 4A title in a time of 14:54.6 after finishing runner-up at the 4A state meet the past two seasons.
Preston Johnson of Marshalltown was runner-up in 14:56.1 and Decker was third for the second consecutive season.
Sioux City North sophomore Kuma Gutema finished fourth in 14:59.3 as the top four runners were separated by just 4.7 seconds.
“I’m fairly happy with it,” Decker said. “Better placement would have been great but everyone went out there and ran a great race and times were fast today so I can’t be too mad about it.”
The time of 14:59 for Decker is the fifth fastest state meet time in history and is more than 11 seconds faster than this third-place time of 15:10.1 from last season.
It also came on a day with temperatures in the 40s and a steady wind.
“I think I handled the conditionals all right but I definitely felt it a little bit,” Decker said. “I think I could have handled it a little better.”
Decker, Merrick and Johnson got out early and ran together ahead of the pack for much of the race.
It was over the final 800 meters that Merrick built a solid lead.
“He was able to run away with it,” Decker said of Merrick. “He’s fit and he’s a great runner and he was the better runner today and was just able to break off.”
The third-place finish from Decker helped Liberty High place 14th as a team with 239 points.
Indianola won the team title with 102 points followed by Cedar Falls with 104 points and Ankeny Centennial with 157.
City High was seventh with 195 points.
Senior Linus McRoberts led City High placing 21st in a time of 15:54.7 and junior David Randall was 38th overall in a time of 16:09.7.
Sophomore Leif Eastlund placed 54th in 16:20.6 and Jarris Prottsman was 64th in a time of 16:30.6 for the Little Hawks.
West High sophomores Michael Hanna and Jake Weiler finished 32nd and 67th respectively.
Hanna was 32nd in 16:05.3 and Weiler was 67th in 16:32.7.
Class 4A State Meet
At Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
Team scores – 1. Indianola 102; 2. Cedar Falls 14; 3. Ankeny Centennial 157; 4. Cedar Rapids Prairie 164; 5. Johnston 180; 6. Dallas Center-Grimes 193; 7. City High 195; 8. Dubuque Senior 206; 9. West Des Moines Dowling 219; 10. Dubuque Hempstead 226; 11. Bettendorf 235; 12. Waukee Northwest 237; 13. Norwalk 238; 14. Liberty High 239; 15. Pleasant Valley 281
Individual medalists – 1. Jaden Merrick (Cedar Falls) 14:54.6; 2. Preston Johnson (Marshalltown) 14:56.1; 3. Keegan Decker (Liberty High) 14:59; 4. Kuma Gutema (Sioux City North) 14:59.3; 5. Jack Crossland (Johnston) 15:09.1; 6. AJ Willey (Bettendorf) 15:31.7; 7. Slader Buckheister (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) 15:34.9; 8. Adam Gray (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) 15:35; 9. Andrew Heden (Bettendorf) 15:36.8; 10. Dominic Williams (Cedar Falls) 15:37.6; 11. Nicholas Paulsen (West Des Moines Dowling) 15:40.2; 12. Reed Robbins (Indianola) 15:41.1; 13. Charlie Deick (West Des Moines Dowling) 15:43.2; 14. Cochen Moll (Ankeny Centennial) 15:45.5; 15. Kyle Johnson (Cedar Rapids Prairie) 15:46.6
City High (195) – 16. Linus McRoberts 15:54.7; 28. David Randall 16:09.7; 41. Leif Eastlund 16:20.6; 48. Jarris Prottsman 16:30.6; 62. Emmett Palmberg 16:41.5; 63. Max McDowell 16:42.3; 68. Jack Leman 16:49.9
Liberty High (239) – 3. Keegan Decker 14:59; 24. Tayson Cho 16:05.8; 45. Lars Hildebrand 16:27.3; 81. Collin Finch 16:59.3; 87. Julius Vidal 17:04.7; 93. Jens Strand 17:14.8; 103. Yuma Squiers 17:46
West High – 32. Michael Hanna 16:05.3; 67. Jake Weiler 16:32.7
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