WAUKON BOYS CC ON TO STATE!
Members of the Waukon boys cross country team display their State Qualifier banner after running to a second-place team finish at the Class 2A State Qualifying Meet hosted by Monticello Thursday, October 22. This will be the second consecutive season the Indians have earned State Meet qualification, with this group looking to improve on its 14th-place finish from last season’s State Meet. Pictured above, left to right, are: Front row - Juniors Austin Day and Tyler O’Neill. Back row - Seniors Tanner Manning, Kameron Klinge, T.J. Treptau and Isaac Fink, and junior Hunter Jensen. Photo courtesy of Dave Davies.
Heading to the home of the top-rated team in Class 2A, the Waukon cross country boys knew they would have their work cut out for them if they wanted to advance out of their Class 2A State Qualifying Meet at Monticello Thursday, October 22. Even though they couldn’t quite keep pace with the meet’s championship total of just 32 points scored by the highest-regarded host Panthers, the Indians did improve on their State qualifying third-place finish from last season by placing second at Thursday’s meet with a team total of 106 points.
The top-rated Panthers of Monticello claimed three of the top four individual finishes at the meet and placed all five of their team-scored runners within the meet’s top 16 individuals on their way to those 32 championship points. A top-15 individual finish is required for advancement on to the State Meet, as well as a top-three finish for an entire team to advance.
The Indians’ second-place qualification result was anchored by a pair of efforts that landed within those top-15 individual qualifying spots, as the junior tandem of Tyler O’Neill and Austin Day continued to pace the Indian effort this season. O’Neill was the highest placing junior with his fifth-place finish in the 97-runner field in a time of 17:03, as all four runners who finished in front of him were seniors. Day placed ninth overall with a clocking of 17:31.
Senior Tanner Manning and junior Hunter Jensen each managed finishes within the meet’s top one-third, Manning placing 22nd in 18:09 and Jensen finishing 28th with a clocking of 18:32. Senior Kameron Klinge wrapped up the Indian team scoring at the meet with his 42nd-place finish in 19:03. Fellow seniors Isaac Fink and T.J. Treptau were not far behind Klinge in completing the Indians’ overall effort at the meet, placing 44th and 45th, respectively, in times of 19:08 and 19:09.
ON TO STATE!
The Indians will now prepare for the Class 2A State Meet to be held this Saturday, October 31 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge. The Indians will compete with 14 other Class 2A State Meet qualifiers, beginning at 1:30 p.m., with that State Meet field including 12 other teams ranked in Class 2A’s top 15 and six other teams returning from last season’s Class 2A State Meet field, where the Indians placed 14th overall.
