Raider Redemption

PELLA — The Collins-Maxwell/Baxter girls cross country team took a ride down redemption road Thursday.

Five members of last year’s team reversed a script that saw 2015 end with disappointment. Junior Ashlee Johnson ran on another high school team last season, but she got redemption when she crossed the Central College course’s finish line.

Even senior Winter Brown, who was injured most of last season, got some redemption.

In the end, the redemption was rewarded with the Raiders’ second trip to the state cross country meet in the last five seasons.

CMB placed five of its varsity runners in the first 18 positions and advanced to the state meet with a second-place finish at a Class 2A state qualifier. The fifth-ranked Raiders were edged by No. 4 Mid-Prairie by one point.

“It motivated us a lot. We have been bringing that up a lot the past three weeks,” CMB sophomore Lauren Ratliff said about last year’s state qualifying meet. “Last year was not any fun, and we wanted to make sure it didn’t happen again. We showed we wanted this really bad.”

Last year, the Raiders were one of five ranked teams to run in Dike, and they came up on the short end of the stick, finishing two positions out of a state berth.

One season later, with a few familiar faces and a couple of extra pieces, CMB turned back the disappointment with a successful performance on the grass.

The Raiders didn’t expect to lose Thursday, but CMB coach Jerry Meinerts said the narrow loss will serve as motivation for when the team returns to action at the state meet in Fort Dodge next weekend.

“We started the season with this goal. Then we found out this was our last season together. To accomplish the goal and the steps we took a long the way, it’s a great feeling. But it also leaves a little bit of an unfinished business, which is OK.

“We didn’t run a perfect race. We have room for improvement. We have a week and a day to work on that.”

Three Raiders finished in the first 15 positions, which guaranteed them a spot at the state meet. Sophomore Brenna Thomson was sixth, senior Heather Jessen finished seventh and sophomore Lauren Ratliff crossed the finish line in 14th. Johnson was 17th and sophomore Shasta Moody finished in 18th as the Raiders finished with 62 points.

Mid-Prairie had the two best runners on the course as sisters Anna Hostetler and Marie Hostetler blew away with the times of 17 minutes, 57.6 seconds and 17:58.9, respectively.

No other Golden Hawk runner qualified automatically but one was 16th, another 19th and the fifth and final scoring runner crossed in 23rd. That was enough to edge the fifth-ranked Raiders by one point in the standings.

Prairie City-Monroe ended its season. The Mustangs’ best finishers were sophomores Kirstin Ives, Megan Townley and Paytan Schut, who were 21st, 24th and 29th, respectively. PCM finished seventh as a team with 160 points.

Aplington-Parkersburg was the third qualifying team with 108 points. Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck (138) and Albia (152) rounded out the top five, while East Marshall (159) was sixth. West Marshall (162) finished two points back of PCM in eighth, Dike-New Hartford (167) was ninth and Van Buren (292), Centerville (309), Davis County (313) and Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont (373) completed the 13-team field.

“I thought we ran well. (Ives) and (Townley) both had a season PR. Paytan came down with a cough over the weekend. Those things happen,” PCM coach Eric Karr said. “We ended up roughly where I had us on paper. We had higher hopes, but we’ll take it into next year. I feel like they gave me what they had tonight, and you really can’t ask for anything else.”

The Raiders ended up right where Meinerts expected, too. CMB openly talked about goals of reaching the state meet for the first time since 2012. They’ll breeze into next weekend’s state meet wanting more though.

“We’ll learn from this race, and now we have the motivation to hopefully take out Mid-Prairie,” Meinerts said. “We had a goal of a top-three finish at state. We want to walk out on that balcony next week.”

Thomson’s individual redemption Thursday came with a sixth-place overall finish. She ended up in the worst possible place last season, which is 16th and one spot off of a state berth. She had motivation that came with coming so close as a team last year, too.

“It just feels really good because I wasn’t able to make it last year. I feel really good about qualifying,” Thomson said.

The 2016 season wasn’t short on distractions either, the largest being the talks leading up to an eventual split between Collins-Maxwell and Baxter.

“This is our last year together so it’s really exciting,” Moody said. “Even though I didn’t make it individually, we get to go as a team, and that’s what matters to me more.

“We knew that CMB was separating. That motivated us, too. Last year was a bummer, but we worked as hard as we could to get it done this year.”

Jessen was able to experience the state meet last year as an individual. This season, it was all about doing what she could to get the entire roster to Fort Dodge with her.

“This was more about the team because its our last year together,” Jessen said. “It’s amazing. It’s been great to see us succeed with all that has been going on around us.”

Johnson had a bittersweet day. Last year, running for West Marshall, Johnson veered off the course because of an injury. She didn’t reach the finish line. Thursday, Johnson finished the race, but the junior had a bit higher expectations for herself.

“At the line, it was stressful. I knew we could make it as a team, but you just don’t want to let anyone down,” Johnson said. “I just kept telling myself that I had to do it for the team. Then I just felt tired during the race, but I had to keep going.

“It’s a good feeling to know that I can count on the other girls when I have a bad day, but I’m mad at myself because I should have done better. I know I can do better.”

The good news for Johnson is that she’ll get the chance for more redemption in Fort Dodge on Oct. 29.

“We’re just really excited that we all get the chance to go to Fort Dodge and run at state as CMB one last time,” Ratliff said. “We have all worked really hard all season. We are glad that we get to show what we are made of.”

Here are the complete results for the two area teams from Thursday’s meet:

Girls

6. Brenna Thomson, So., 20:29.3, CMB

7. Heather Jessen, Sr., 20:41.3, CMB

14. Lauren Ratliff, So., 21:01.3, CMB

17. Ashlee Johnson, Jr. 21:16.1, CMB

18. Shasta Moody, So., 21:29.2, CMB

21. Kirstin Ives, So. 21:39.3, PCM

24. Megan Townley, So., 21:51, PCM

26. Holly Jessen, Fr., 22:04.1, CMB

29. Paytan Schut, So., 22:15.4, PCM

42. Klaire Jungling, Fr., 23:04.7, PCM

44. Baylee Smith, Jr., 23:08.2, PCM

53. Winter Brown, Sr., 23:23.6, CMB

60. Ellie Steenhoek, Jr., 23:39.9, PCM

72. Rachel Stafford, Sr., 24:18.1, PCM