Breaking Down the Class 3A Boys State Cross Country Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
The two-day state cross country meet gets underway on Friday at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
Classes 1A and 2A start the action on Friday while Classes 3A and 4A will conclude the cross country season with state championship races on Saturday.
Before the action gets underway in Fort Dodge Your Prep Sports takes a quick look at all of the races featuring teams and individuals from the area.
Here is a quick breakdown of the Class 3A boys race schedule for Saturday at 11:15 a.m.
Where: Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
When: Saturday, 11:15 p.m.
Qualifying teams: *Des Moines Christian; Decorah; Mason City; *Sioux Center; ADM; Creston; *Mount Vernon-Lisbon; Central DeWit; Dubuque Wahlert; *Cedar Rapids Xavier; Clear Creek Amana; Davenport Assumption; *Gilbert; Pella; Bondurant-Farrar
*-state qualifying meet champions
Individual state qualifying meet champions: Henry Hansen, Sr., Mason City; Ray Landegent, Jr., Sioux Center; Collin Cook, Jr., Marion; Carson Meskimen, Jr., Clear Creek Amana; Logan Bleich, Sr., Gilbert
2025 top five: 1. Gilbert 71; 2. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 101; 3. Pella 109; 4. Des Moines Christian 139; 5. Central DeWitt 184.
Last five team champions: 2025 – Gilbert; 2024 – Gilbert; 2023 – Gilbert; 2022 – Pella; 2021 – Dallas Center-Grimes
Returning state placewinners: 4. Logan Bleich, Sr., Gilbert; 5. Jacob Tallman, Sr., Gilbert; 11. Carson Meskimen, Jr., Clear Creek Amana; 13. Kyle Olson, Sr., Central DeWitt; 15. Josiah Sisler, Sr., Des Moines Christian
Top ranked teams: 1. Gilbert; 2. Sioux Center; 3. Cedar Rapids Xavier; 4. Des Moines Christian; 5. Mount Vernon-Lisbon
Ranked area teams: 7. Clear Creek Amana
Top ranked individuals: 1. Logan Bleich, Sr., Gilbert; 2. Jacob Tallman, Sr., Gilbert; 3. Carson Meskimen, Jr., Clear Creek Amana; 4. Henry Hansen, Sr., Mason City; 5. Andrew Allen, Jr., Cedar Rapids Xavier
Ranked area individuals: 3. Carson Meskimen, Jr., Clear Creek Amana; 30. Mason Miller, Sr., Clear Creek Amana
Area individual qualifiers: Anders Holmes, Jr., Solon
Team title race: The race in Class 3A may be to see which two teams join Gilbert on the balcony at Lakeside Golf Course.
The Tigers are heavy favorites to claim a fourth consecutive state title behind the senior duo of Logan Bleich and Jacob Tallman who are both returning top-five finishers and state title hopefuls.
The teams chasing Gilbert are numerous.
Second-ranked Sioux Center finished seventh last season and is coming off a title performance at the Glenwood qualifier.
Cedar Rapids Xavier, Des Moines Christian and Mount Vernon-Lisbon should all be in the mix for top-five finishes.
Mount Vernon-Lisbon was runner-up last season, 30 points behind Gilbert and Des Moines Christian was fourth.
Des Moines Christian won the Clear Lake state qualifier and Mount Vernon-Lisbon claimed the team title in Independence last Thursday.
Don’t count out Decorah for a top-three spot either, the Vikings were sixth at the state meet last season.
Individual title tracker: The top three finishers from an incredible 3A race last season all graduated.
Quentin Nauman of Western Dubuque, Canaan Dunham of Pella and Caleb Ten Pas of Des Moines Christian held those top three spots in that order last season and were more than 13 seconds in front of the next finisher.
That finisher was Bleich of Gilbert who joins teammate Tallman as the early favorites in the 3A title race.
Clear Creek Amana junior Carson Meskimen has had an impressive close to the season that included titles at the WAMAC Conference and state qualifying meets and is more than capable of pushing to the front of the 3A field.
Meskimen is already a two-time state qualifier and finished 11th last season in 16:03.5.
Mason City senior Henry Hansen should be in the mix along with Cedar Rapids Xavier junior Andrew Allen who was runner-up to Meskimen at the state qualifier.
Area breakdown: Clear Creek Amana returns to the state meet for the fifth consecutive season and is seeking a big jump after finishing outside of the top 10 each of the past two seasons.
Led by Meskimen the Clippers return three of their top five finishers from the state meet last season when they finished 13th.
Senior Mason Miller has had an impressive senior and enters the state meet ranked 30th after finishing seventh at the state qualifying meet last season.
Miller was 86th at the state meet last season as a junior.
Junior Kyle Vogel is a three-time state qualifier that has finished 98th and 94th the past two seasons.
Solon junior Anders Holmes returns to the state meet as an individual qualifier after finishing 49th in his state meet debut as a freshman in 2024.
Did you enjoy this subscription free article? Help keep Your Prep Sports free by donating
