Breaking Down the Class 3A Girls State Cross Country Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
The sprint that is the cross country season in the state of Iowa comes reaches the finish line this weekend at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
The 2026 state meet is schedule for Friday and Saturday in Fort Dodge with Classes 1A and 2A starting things off on Friday.
Classes 3A and 4A will conclude the season with races on Saturday.
Before the gun sounds on Friday morning Your Prep Sports takes a quick look at all of the races featuring area teams and individuals.
Here is a quick breakdown of the Class 3A girls race.
Where: Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
When: Saturday, 10:30 a.m.
Qualifying teams: *Des Moines Christian; Clear Lake; Decorah; *Sioux Center; ADM; MOC-Floyd Valley; *Dubuque Wahlert; Solon; Mount Vernon-Lisbon; *Williamsburg; Clear Creek Amana; Newton; *Pella; North Polk; Ballard
*-state qualifying meet champions
Individual state qualifying meet champions: Elyse Erzen, Jr., Des Moines Christian; Harper Winegarden, Fr., Williamsburg; Natalie Anderson, Sr., MOC-Floyd Valley; Evelyn Moeller, Sr., Mount Vernon-Lisbon; Elsie Brenneman, Sr., Pella
2025 top five: 1. Pella 31; 2. Des Moines Christian 113; 3. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 136; 4. Sioux Center 165; 5. Winterset 181
Last five team champions: 2025 – Pella; 2024 – Pella; 2023 -Pella; 2022 – Pella; 2021 – Solon
Returning state placewinners: 3. Evelyn Moeller, Sr., Mount Vernon-Lisbon; 4. Elsie Brenneman, Sr., Pella; 5. Elyse Erzen, Jr., Des Moines Christian; 6. Natalie Anderson, Sr., MOC-Floyd Valley; 7. Lizzy Vande Voort, Jr., Pella; 8. Aaliyah Causey, Jr., Center Point-Urbana; 9. Ruth Dunham, Sr., Pella; 10. Ashlyn Rau, Jr., Harlan; 11. Audrina Jones, Sr., Sioux Center; 15. Alexis Hergenreter, Sr., North Polk
Top ranked teams: 1. Pella; 2. Des Moines Christian; 3. Williamsburg; 4. North Polk; 5. Dubuque Wahlert
Ranked area teams: 6. Clear Creek Amana; 9. Solon
Top ranked individuals: 1. Evelyn Moeller, Sr., Mount Vernon-Lisbon; 2. Elsie Brenneman, Sr., Pella; 3. Natalie Anderson, Sr., MOC-Floyd Valley; 4. Harper Winegarden, Fr., Williamsburg; 5. Maechen Cowman, Fr., Pella
Ranked area individuals: 16. Ali Seidl, Soph., Clear Creek Amana 22. Keira Cooney, Fr., Clear Creek Amana
Area individual qualifiers: None.
Team title race: Pella is chasing a fifth consecutive team title and the Dutch are heavy favorites to accomplish the feat.
Last season Pella won the title by 82 points over Des Moines Christian and returns four runners from that squad including a trio of top-10 finishers in Elsie Brenneman (fourth), Lizzy Vande Voort (seventh) and Ruth Dunham (ninth).
Pella has also been bolstered by the addition of talented freshman Maechen Cowman, who is ranked fifth and Elliana Hardman who is ranked 19th.
The race for second behind Pella should be exciting.
Williamsburg won the Washington state qualifier and will battle with second-ranked Des Moines Christian for the next two spots.
Dubuque Wahlert won the title at the Independence qualifier to jump into the top five in the rankings and joins North Polk, Clear Creek Amana and Solon has potential top-five finishers.
Individual title tracker: One of the heaviest individual favorites entering the state meet is Mount Vernon-Lisbon senior Evelyn Moeller who has been absolutely dominant from the opening race this season.
An Iowa State recruit, Moeller cruised to the individual title at the Independence qualifier winning in 17:25.
Brenneman was fourth last season and joins teammate Cowman in what should be a crowded pack chasing Moeller.
MOC-Floyd Valley senior Natalie Anderson was sixth a year ago and Williamsburg freshman Harper Winegarden is ranked fourth and should be in the mix for a top-five finish.
Elyse Erzen of Des Moines Christian finished fifth last season and joins Vande Voort of Pella, Aaliyah Causey of Center Point-Urbana, Dunham of Pella and Ashlyn Rau of Harlan as returning top 10 finishers.
Area breakdown: Few teams in the state has been as consistently successful as Solon over the past decade.
The Spartans are making their ninth consecutive state meet appearance and have posted seven consecutive top-10 finishes during that span.
Solon has finished in the top five four times since 2020 and have a state title and a third-place finish in that stretch.
The Spartans are capable of another top-five finish this season.
Solon closed the regular season with consecutive runner-up finishes at the WAMAC Conference and state qualifying meets and head to Fort Dodge running their best of the season.
The Spartans have plenty of state meet experience with six state qualifiers including five from last year’s squad that finished sixth.
Seniors Falyn Svalstad and Ava Rolwes are both four-time state qualifiers while juniors Liv Nelson and Addison Seamans are each making their third appearance at the state meet.
Svalstad has finished in the top 50 twice, including a 17th place finish last season while Seamans was 51st and Nelson was 75th last season.
Sophomore Mailee Schmidt was 59th at state a year ago and junior Kinley Mai finished 50th at state two seasons ago as a freshman.
Clear Creek Amana returns to the state meet for the first time since 2023 and will be seeking a top-five finish.
The Clippers are ranked sixth and coming off a runner-up finish at the Washington state qualifier.
Ali Seidl is a returning state qualifier and has had an impressive sophomore season and is joined in the 3A individual rankings by impressive freshman Keira Cooney.
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