Central runners Jesse Polkinghorn and Cade Zittergruen turned in career best races at the Oct. 22 Class 1A state qualifier at Luther College to advance to the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships.
They are the program’s 19th and 20th individual state qualifiers and the first since 2010, when Central had two individuals qualify, according to assistant coach Martha Bauder.
Polkinghorn, a senior, finished sixth with a time of 18:18, and Zittergruen, a freshman, crossed the line eighth in 18:30, to place within the top 10 and punch their tickets. The two will represent Central at the state meet on Friday, Oct. 30. The Class 1A boys race begins at 11:15 a.m. at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
The boys also narrowly missed qualifying as a team. In third place with a score of 84, they were a spot back of the top two qualifying standard for Class 1A. South Winneshiek took the title with 34 points and Lake Mills was the runner-up at 60.
“That third place finish ties the highest team finish since 2014,” Bauder said. “The rest of the team members also ran great, with three more career bests coming from Lukas Friedlein, Oliver Holdsworth and Keagan Sylvester.”
Following Polkinghorn and Zittergruen, Holdsworth completed the race in 19:37, which was good for 19th. Tyce Zittergruen and Cruz Healy placed a respective 26th and 27th with times of 19:53 and 19:54, followed by Friedlein and Sylvester in the 36th and 37th positions. Friedlein ran a 20:19 and Sylvester was right behind him at 20:20.
“On the girls side,” said Bauder, “we came into the race ready to compete, coming off a strong showing at our conference meet, but ultimately struggled a bit as a team.”
The Warriors placed seventh with a score of 156. Northwood-Kensett and South Winn battled it out for the top two, with Northwood-Kensett getting a 62 versus 64 edge. Wapsie Valley was well back in third place with 93 points.
Central’s top finisher was Hadley Mueller in 21st place, with a time off 22:50. MacKenna Fisher crossed the line in 23:14, for 26th, followed by Payton Stannard in 44th at 24:50 and Harper Bennington in 47th at 25:12. Blair Scherf posted a time of 25:56 for 55th place and Anya Whittle and Emersyn Wiley finished 61st and 62nd with respective times of 27:26 and 27:55.
Bauder said the future is bright for this group, who will all return next season.
“This year of experience for our newcomers will provide huge improvements next season. Along with the upperclassmen returning, we should be able to build toward a successful season next year,” she added.
