The Spirit Lake Park boys cross country team’s attempt at a third straight Class 2A state title came up just short Saturday afternoon in Fort Dodge. The Indians ran to a runner-up finish, 19 points behind Regina. However, all was not lost, as SLP’s top three runners placed first, second and third individually. Senior Alec Baldwin’s time of 16:12 put him first through the tape, and teammates Keith Byers (16:15), a junior, and Will Norris (16:19), a sophomore, were both right behind. They would cross the finish line within the next seven seconds. Also scoring for the Indians were Kyle Anderson (17:48), in 52nd, and Gabe McCoy (18:01) in 67th. Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn’s Ben Bererich (17:04) ended the day in 22nd.
In the girls 2A competition, Spirit Lake Park ran to a team total of 160 points, good for sixth place. Union was the overall champion at 100 points. KJ Veldman was the top individual Indians runner in twelfth place with a time of 15:43. Briana Brunsvold (15:45) came in 16th, followed by Dondi Schmidt (16:00) in 25th, Jessie Kabele (16:23) in 41st, and Liz Skogerboe (17:00) was 66th. Sibley-Ocheyedan’s Leah Seivert came away with a runner-up individual finish at 14:40. Teammate Amy Dreessen (15:51) was 29th.
At the Class 3A level, Spencer freshman Ryan Brauermeister (16:54) ran in 29th place, meanwhile, the Tigers’ Cierra Guerrero, another freshman, was 19th in the girls’ race at 15:26. Sara Edwardson (15:47) came in 40th. McKenzie Woodyard represented Estherville-Lincoln Central and finished 63rd (16:17). In the Class 1A girls’ event, Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn’s Katie Knobloch finished 19th (15:46) and Brenna Sweeney was 44th (16:24).
Champions:
Class 1A Boys: Northern University and Bill Spencer, Iowa Mennonite
Class 1A Girls: Pekin and Emily Franks, Northeast, Goose Lake
Class 2A Boys: Spirit Lake and Alec Baldwin, Spirit Lake
Class 2A Girls: Union, LaPorte City and Lauren Benzing, Solon
Class 3A Boys: Wahlert, Dubuque and Johnny Fuller, Glenwood
Class 3A Girls: Wahlert, Dubuque and Anna Holdiman, Waverly-Shell Rock
Class 4A Boys: Prairie, Cedar Rapids and Kevin Lewis, Ottumwa
Class 4A Girls: Dowling Catholic, WDM and Shelby Houlihan, Sioux City East
