City High Thrives Off Competition in Runner-up Finish at State Qualifying Meet
Ryan Murken
Your Prep Sports
IOWA CITY – Some teams struggle when faced with the challenge of competing against the highest level of competition.
High-level competition has had the opposite effect on the City High boys cross country team this season.
“Our team is always looking for ways to push ourselves whether it’s using a person on our team or doing our research and finding someone we can race against,” City High junior Andrew Hamilton said. “Having good competition really pushes our team and that’s what makes us great.”
City High continued to thrive when facing off against some of the best teams in the state on Wednesday.
Class 4A eighth-ranked City High had three runners finish in the top 15 and finished runner-up to top-ranked West Des Moines Dowling at the 4A state qualifying meet at Kickers Soccer Complex in Iowa City.
“I’ll be honest the meets that we’ve competed against (third-ranked) Liberty has helped us,” City High coach Jayme Skay said. “It built confidence for our hoys and all I reminded them about was our focus was on Dowling, we don’t worry about what is behind us and we were going out to run with them and compete with them and I think that focus helped them gear their race where they weren’t so nervous or worried.”
West Des Moines Dowling won the team title with 34 points while City High was second with 75 points, three points in front of No. 13 Davenport Central.
No. 17 Ankeny finished fourth with 106 points.
“I was hoping (Dowling) would drag us along, that was our hope because we had Davenport Central and Ankeny to deal with,” City High senior David Randall said. “We were just hoping that Dowling would pull us along because we are a competitive team.”
Hamilton headlined a strong performance from City High finishing fifth overall in a time of 16:13.
The junior trailed a top-four pack that featured a trio of top-20 ranked runners.
Fifth-ranked Andrew Heden of Bettendorf won the team title in a time of 15:39.6 and was followed by Charlie Deick of West Des Moines Dowling and Gus Brown of Ankeny.
Zack Ryan of Davenport Central was fourth in 16:12.1.
“I attribute it to my teammates,” Hamilton said. “Not just the ones racing with me on varsity but the ones on JV who motivate me every day and who I see outside of running and are just as invested in my running as I am.”
Randall finished 12th in a time of 16:48.1 and freshman Clayton Terrill was 15th in a time of 16:54.4.
Leif Eastlund finished 20th in 17:13.8 and Sam Elliott was 23rd in 17:17.9.
“We were planning on a pack run and we stuck as a pack and we were just trailing those guys,” Randall said. “That’s what we needed.”
Class 4A State Qualifying Meet
At Kickers Soccer Complex
Team scores – 1. West Des Moines Dowling 34; 2. City High 75; 3. Davenport Central 78; 4. Ankeny 106; 5. Bettendorf 106; 6. North Scott 166; 7. Muscatine 167; 8. Davenport North 255; 9. Burlington 285; 10. Davenport West 288
Individual leaders – 1. Andrew Heden (BET) 15:39.6; 2. Charlie Deick (WDD) 15:55; 3. Gus Brown (ANK) 16:02.7; 4. Zack Ryan (DC) 16:12.1; 5. Andrew Hamilton (ICH) 16:13; 6. Theo Tollakson (WDD) 16:15.1; 7. Elias Stein (WDD) 16:37.9; 8. Garrett Willey (BET) 16:40.7; 9. Isaac Sands (WDD) 16:45.2; 10. Nate Timboe (WDD) 16:46.3; 11. Parker Hamly (NS) 16:48; 12. David Randall (ICH) 16:48.1; 13. Manny Leveridge (DC) 16:50.8; 14. Avian Reyna (MUS) 16:51; 15. Clayton Terrill (ICH) 16:54.4
City High – 5. Andrew Hamilton 16:13; 12. David Randall 16:48.1; 15. Clayton Terril 16:54.4; 20. Leif Eastlund 17:13.8; 23. Sam Elliott 17:17.9; 24. Jasper McRoberts 17:19; 25. Soren Miller 17:28.2
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