Mission accomplished: Lady Vikes punch state ticket

AHSTW girls place third at 1A Mount Ayr meet; Wilson leads area group of individual state qualifiers

 MOUNT AYR (Oct. 19) -- From the AHSTW girls clinching a team state berth to Evan Wilson’s dramatic first-place finish for Exira-Elk Horn-Kimballton, it was a good day for area runners at Thursday’s Class 1A State Qualifying Cross Country Meet in Mount Ayr.
 Overall, nine harriers from AHSTW, Exira-EHK and IKM-Manning qualified for this Saturday’s State Cross Country Championships at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course north of Fort Dodge. The 1A girls race will start at 2:00 p.m., followed by the 1A boys race at 2:30.
 The list of local qualifiers includes Wilson, who earned a sixth-place state medal in 2015 but was injured much of last season and just missed qualifying. The Spartan senior (ranked 2nd in 1A) edged sixth-ranked Brycen Wallace of Nodaway Valley at the wire, 16:37.46 to 16:37.71, to win an exciting boys race at the Mount Ayr Country Club.
 Also qualifying for state as an individual was AHSTW senior Dalton Fischer (ranked 29th), who secured the 15th and final qualifier spot from Mount Ayr in 17:59.
 Girls individual state qualifiers included AHSTW senior Heidi Hall (6th place) and IKM-M senior Payton Sporrer (10th place), who became a four-time qualifier.
 Hall also qualified as part of the Lady Vike team, which advanced to Fort Dodge by placing third out of 16 full squads with a score of 119. First-place Panorama (32) and second-place Baxter (100) also qualified.
 Additional placers for the AHSTW girls were freshmen Julia Kock (20th), Chloe Falkena (25th), Jade Draman (32nd), Martha Pace (54th) and Claire Denning (84th).
 Thursday’s boys state-qualifying teams included Nodaway Valley (29), Woodward-Granger (69) and Earlham (122). The IKM-Manning boys placed sixth with a score of 211, led by freshman Quentin Dreyer in 30th and senior Dillon Hansen in 41st.
 Two other seniors ran their final race for the IKM-M girls: Cassidy Branning placed 41st and Shyanne Sporrer was 91st. Shyanne, who is Payton’s twin sister, suffered a broken leg at the beginning of softball season and worked her way back to competing in cross country meets by the second half of the season.
 The Exira-EHK girls finished 16th as a team, led by senior Jolene Jensen (69th) and freshman Camryn Paulsen (72nd).

 
 

 

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