Sonderman finishes sixth at State Meet Saturday

For the final time this season, seven members of the HCHS girls varsity cross country gathered in Fort Dodge Saturday to compete in the state meet. Senior Jenna Gessert, Juniors Emily Schechinger and Taylor Bieker, Sophomores Lindsey Sonderman, Kayla Anderson and Brylee Schechinger and Freshman Lily Schechinger represented HCHS.

Last season, the meet was won by Senior Ainsley Erzen from the Carlisle Wildcats, who finished with a time of 19:13.86. Before the meet started, nerves were high, but head coach Zach Klaassen gathered them together for some inspirational words.

“It seemed like we were pretty nervous before the meet on Saturday,” Klaassen said. “We got boxed in from the start and it is hard to fight back at the state meet. They fought hard to get back into position, runners just don't come back to you at this point in the season. With so many runners it is easy to get overwhelmed if you haven't been there before.”

The race was won by Senior Paityn Noe from Ballard with a time of 16:48.58. Sonderman was not very far behind as she finished sixth overall, first among Harlan girls with a time of 19:10.04.

“I'm super happy with how my race went on Saturday,” Sonderman said. “I try to keep my goals challenging but reasonable, so I knew top five would be a tough goal to achieve. To get so close to reaching my goal is very exciting.”

The second fastest girl among HCHS was Gessert, who finished with a time of 20:49.06. Gessert finished 61st overall out of 135 girls that competed.

“Finishing with 20:49:06 was a good time for me to run,” Gessert said. “Even though I didn’t meet my goal to PR at the state meet, I am still pretty proud of my time.”

This was the second year Gessert ran cross country for HCHS and even though she may not have ran all four years, she still has some fond memories from her time competing.

“Being a part of cross country, you are able to make a ton of fun memories,” Gessert added. “Some of my favorite memories include dying our hair before the state meet, joking around with the team about seniority, walking the courses before every meet, winning Hawkeye 10 my junior year/the photo shoot for the trophy case, finding golf balls during practices and going to The Grounds with Kayla [Anderson], Kori [Smith], and Kennedy [Nippert] after summer runs.”

Gessert will not be returning the following year due to being a senior, however, she will return for one more meet.

“Jenna will be missed for sure next year,” Klaassen said. “She has had a solid two-year career in cross country and was a very good runner for us. She is a very consistent runner and you always know what you are going to get from her. Jenna qualified for the senior all-star meet next weekend, so she will get to put her talents on display one last time.”

Klaassen acknowledged how proud he is of all the girls from their efforts not just at this meet, but throughout the course of the season.

“These ladies have grown a lot since that first meet in August,” he said. “I feel they did all that was asked of them.  It was a great experience to grow from going into the next season. I like who is coming back and we have some good runners coming up from the middle school program as well."

 
 

 

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