West Liberty’s cross-country season came to an end last Thursday at the Class 2A state qualifying meet in Williamsburg.
However, it was a day to remember for both the boys' and girls' team.
This was the meet to empty the gas tank, and the six boys’ runners did exactly that. Each one of them set a personal record on the Williamsburg Recreation Center course.
Among the runners were freshman Jonathan Juarez (56th — 20:21.5), junior Manu Garcia Blanes (59th — 20:28.4), senior Joaquin Elizondo (60th — 20:31.2), sophomore Cameron Elizondo (62nd — 20:35.7), sophomore Ben Tharp (77th — 23:21.6) and freshman Wesley Heath (80th — 25:00.2).
Mediapolis (49 team points) and Oelwein (65) qualified as teams. Mid-Prarie’s Emmett Swartzentruber won the race in 16:12.1, just over 10 seconds better than Mediapolis’ Owen Schmidgall (16:21.7).
The Comet boys finished in ninth place as a team scoring 279 points.
On the girls’ side, the Comets had just two runners compete. And just like the boys, the girls put in season-best races.
Freshman standouts Madelyn Deahr (40th — 23:50.0) and Addison Guerra (54th — 24:48.1) both hit personal records on Thursday. Deahr broke her previous best time by 17 seconds and Guerra broke hers by 50 seconds.
Mid-Prairie (29) and Van Meter (43) qualified for the state race in Fort Dodge on the team side. Golden Hawk Danielle Hostetler crushed the field on the individual leaderboard in 19:09.7, besting the next best runner by over 40 seconds.
While there won’t be a Comet racing in Fort Dodge this Saturday, there is still plenty to be pleased with in the state qualifying meet.
West Liberty has the opportunity to return all varsity runners for next season, and they can build upon this race for 2024 and beyond.