West High Senior Tiea Closes Career With Long-Awaited Top-10 Finish
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
FORT DODGE – Over the past several months Moustafa Tiea had imagined the perfect end to his cross country career.
On Friday the West High senior saw that dream turn into a reality.
Tiea claimed his first career state medal in his fourth consecutive trip to the state meet finishing ninth in the Class 4A race at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
“That was my dream cross country race,” Tiea said. “I literally have scenarios of me getting 13th and my whole family and my coaching staff and my team is celebrating. That was today.”
Prior to Friday Tiea had never finished better than 47th or run a time faster than 16:24.1 in three trips to the state meet.
On Friday Tiea had his dream race.
Tiea finished ninth in a strong 4A field in a time of 15:38.3 to post the best finish for West High since Alex McKane was runner-up in 2021.
“Coach told me it wasn’t about time, it wasn’t about what was on the paper he told me deep down inside I just had to want it more,” Tiea said. “I think that’s the thing I forgot about after sophomore year. I started chasing after times and I wondered why coach was so hard on me when I thought about that but that’s not the way to go about a race.”
Friday’s state medal was the dream ending for Tiea and marked the third consecutive season he improved his placing and time at state.
After placing 73rd as a freshman in 2021, Tiea was 51st in 2022 and finished 47th in 16:24.1 last season.
Solid improvement but no real breakthrough.
That came in the final race of his career on Friday and on the state’s biggest stage.
“I think that’s just cross country as a sport, it’s just really hard and no matter how talented you are you still have to go out there and execute,” West High coach Josh Kidman said. “I think learning that the hard way has been his journey the last four years so it feels great to be inside the top 10 with him today. It’s a complete mission for us.”
Tiea was sixth at the state qualifying meet last week in a time of 16:07 and entered ranked 20th in Class 4A.
“What’s on paper doesn’t matter if you want to show you are the fastest you have to want it more,” Tiea said. “It’s just knowing that if you want something enough you can get there.”
West High freshman Michael Hanna finished 94th in a time of 16:52 in his state meet debut.
Class 4A State Meet
At Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge
Team scores – 1. Cedar Falls 73; 2. West Des Moines Dowling 91; 3. Cedar Rapids Prairie 122; 4. Dallas Center-Grimes 167; 5. Norwalk 191; 6. City High 198; 7. Waukee Northwest 206; 8. Ankeny 218; 9. Liberty High 225; 10. Bettendorf 236; 11. Ames 255; 12. Waukee 274; 13. Marshalltown 275; 14. Johnston 291; 15. Indianola 292
Individual leaders – 1. Ethan Zuber (Ankeny) 15:01.2; 2. Jaden Merrick (Cedar Falls) 15:08; 3. Keegan Decker (Liberty High) 15:10.1; 4. Slader Buckheister (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) 15:29.6; 5. Owen Marett (Des Moines Roosevelt) 15:32; 6. Jack Crossland (Johnston) 15:33.3; 7. Kuma Gutema (Sioux City North) 15:33.7; 8. Jack Flori (West Des Moines Dowling) 15:34.9; 9. Moustafa Tiea (West High) 15:38.3; 10. Dominic Williams (Cedar Falls) 15:39.4; 11. AJ Willey (Bettendorf) 15:39.8; 12. Adam Gray (Cedar Rapids Kennedy) 15:41.6; 13. Owen Wolfe (West Des Moines Dowling) 15:41.8; 14. Teegan Kralik (Norwalk) 15:45.4; 15. John Moellers (Marshalltown) 15:50.1
City High (198) – 23. Max McDowell 16:08.6; 36. Linus McRoberts 16:14.6; 51. Emmett Palmberg 16:23.8; 61. George Karr 16:30.3; 85. Jarris Prottsman 16:46.8; 99. David Randall 16:58.2; 110. Adam Schaefer 17:14.6
Liberty High (225) – 3. Keegan Decker 15:10.1; 21. Noah Gregoire 15:59; 57. Jacob Madsen 16:27.6; 104. Tayson Cho 17:02.6; 111. Lars Hilderband 17:16.8; 126. Yuma Squiers 17:53.1; 127. Collin Finch 18:07.
West High – 9. Moustafa Tiea 15:38.3; 94. Michael Hana 16:52
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