Red Oak, Griswold representing area state qualifiers for cross country

Josh Sunberg will have some company when he goes back to Fort Dodge this weekend.

Sunberg, as well as teammate Logan LeRette qualified for the state cross country meet during the state qualifiers last Thursday in Panora.

Sunberg qualifies for the second straight season as he finished seventh in the Panora meet with a time of 17:53.

“I told [Josh], if you just let your potential come out, you’ll be fine,” Red Oak Cross Country Coach Curt Adams said.

This will be LeRette’s first appearance at the state cross country meet, as he finished ninth with a time of 18:03.

“He was thinking about it all year and he just put it together,” Adams said about LeRette.

The boys’ team missed out on a team qualifier when they placed fifth with a score of 124. North Polk, Albia and Shenandoah were the team qualifiers.

The other finishers for the boys team included Travis Schon, who took 25th with a time of 19:02.

Schon was the lone senior of the boys varsity runners, meaning it was his final race for Red Oak cross country.

“Before we even knew the results of how we ended up, I told the team, ‘you guys did a fantastic job, but we’re not done’,” Adams said. “We need another winter and another summer.”

Gavin French meanwhile finished 33rd with a time of 19:19. Weston Rolenc, the freshman of the team, took 50th with a time of 20:02.

Jared Sherman was two spots back in 52nd with a time of 20:07. Ryan Dyson was the final finisher for Red Oak as he placed 57th with a time of 20:19.

Last season, Sunberg finished 68th at the 2A boys state cross country meet.

Adams said he hopes Sunberg goes and tries to make a goal of cracking the top 10 or 20.

“I think he’s got a lot more timing he can cut off. I don’t think he’s nearly at his fastest yet,” Adams said. “But he’s got to be loose. He’s got to not be afraid to fail.”

For LeRette, Adams saidhe’d like to see him run his best race.

“If he’s loose, if he’s relaxed and just goes out there and lets it out, he’ll be fine,” he said.

The state meet takes place Saturday in Fort Dodge at Kennedy Park. The 2A boys race is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m.

Red Oak High School will host a walking pep rally Friday at 3:10 p.m. for the state participants.

Griswold girls qualify

With Rebekah Topham leading the charge, the Griswold girls cross country team finished first at last Thursday’s state qualifying meet in Treynor and are on their way back to Fort Dodge to defend their title.

Griswold finished with a team score of 81 points, placing first ahead of St. Albert and Exira-EHK.

“You have to work for everything, you can’t take anything for granted and we talk about that all the time,” Griswold Coach Jane Chaillie said.

Topham was the lone Griswold runner in the top 10 as she ran a time of 14:56 to place first, more than a minute ahead of Earlham’s Kristen Weber.

For Topham, she enters the meet this weekend with a chance to win a third straight cross country individual state title.

Topham has been dealing with foot pain lately, but it wasn’t an issue for her during the race.

“She is running outstanding. We kind of held her back a little bit so we could make sure she was healthy at this point when we were worried about her foot,” Chaillie said. “I think that was a smart decision and [she] ran outstanding today.”

Alyx Flippin missed out on the top 10, but finished 13th with a time of 17:11. Leah Lappe was two spots back when she ran a time of 17:16 to place 15th.

“It felt really good again. I wasn’t as trained as I wish I would have been, but it’s good to be able to run and compete,” Flippin said.

Alyssa Wyman took 30th for Griswold when she finished with a time of 17:53. Bridget Maurer was a couple spots back in 34th with a time of 18:18.

“That key to success really comes down to all the girls working together,” Chaillie said.

Joanna Topham was 38th with a time of 18:26 and Kayla Kirchhoff was 45th with a time of 18:37.

“We had two freshmen run on our varsity today,” Chaillie said, referring to Wyman and Joanna Topham. “They have done a phenomenal job and competed.”

Griswold won the cross country state title for the first time last season, after coming up short in previous seasons.

The girls race starts Saturday at 2 p.m. at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge.

Red Oak girls

The Red Oak girls varsity team finished seventh out of 12 teams at the state qualifying meet with a score of 175.

“We were hoping we could finish a little higher,” Adams said. “But seventh is pretty good with a bunch of first year runners.”

Panorama, Greene County and North Polk secured the top three state qualifier spots.

Paige Vannasudle had the top finish for the girls in her final race for Red Oak. Vannausdle, a senior, ran a time of 17:27 to finish 21st.

There were two other seniors running their final race for Red Oak cross country: Ellen Fellers and Vanessa Pate. Fellers finished 48th with a time of 19:11, while Pate was 59th with a time of 20:13.

Of the underclassmen, Nikki Graber had the top finish by placing 30th with a time of 17:59.

Ashley Brower, a sophomore, was 36th with a time of 18:38. Chloey Taylor was 50th with 19:16 and Jordyn Cornelison was 65th with 20:48.

Griswold boys

The Griswold boys team finished ninth at the Treynor state qualfiying meet. None of the boys runners were able to crack the top 10.

Jacob Maass had the top time for Griswold by running 18:17 to place 29th. Tyrel Peters was next in line as he took 48th with a time of 19:07.

Joshua Turack took 51st with a time of 19:10.

Dusty Meek finished 83rd with a time of 20:20.75. Joseph Turack was 99th with 20:54.

Taber Feltner was 103rd with a time of 21:03.

Grant Haynes was the final finisher for Griswold when he ran a time of 22:38 to place 132nd.

Southwest Valley

The Southwest Valley Timberwolves completed their first full season together with their finishes at the Treynor state qualifying meet.

The boys team finished 10th, while the girls took 14th. Neither had an individual qualifier for the state meet.

Lane Peterson had the top overall finish for the boys when he ran a time of 18:55 to place 43rd.

Garrett Newton was second on the team with a 53rd place result and a time of 19:13, while Trevor Sorensen was 67th with a time of 19:33.

Quintin Oldenkamp finished 81st with a time of 20:20 and Quinton Wilcoxson was 87th with 20:29.

Connor Haggerty was 114th with 21:31 and Evan Baldwin was 119th with 21:58.