March 28, 2024

Shannon punches ticket to state meet, Newton girls finish sixth

Cardinals place sixth behind five ranked teams at Class 3A state qualifying meet

PELLA — Alyssa Shannon made the most of her only cross country season.

The Newton senior had one opportunity to end her season in Fort Dodge and she ran with it. Literally.

Shannon used the entire season to learn pacing and racing strategies and put it all together at Pella Sports Park on Wednesday, finishing eighth in the girls’ 5K race at a Class 3A state qualifier.

“It feels awesome. It’s incredible,” Shannon said. “I was nervous. I was scared. I thought it would be harder than it was.”

The top 15 individual runners advanced to next week’s state meet in Fort Dodge. The top three squads also advanced.

Newton’s girls finished sixth as a team behind five state-ranked teams. The Cardinals scored 163 points to finish in the top half of the standings.

“The goal was to get to state but we always want to be in the top half. I felt like they ran about where I thought they could have,” Newton girls cross country coach Rachelle Tipton said. “There were five ranked teams here and we were next in line.

“Overall, when I think back to the last four years with this senior group, this year was by far the best for all of us. From where they started and where they finished, I couldn’t be happier.”

Shannon’s eighth-place finish was clocked in 20 minutes, 30 seconds. Class 3A No. 1 Paityn Noe of Ballard won the girls’ 5K race in 18:28.91.

Class 3A No. 9 Ballard won the team race with 61 points. Fourteenth-ranked Ava Vance was fifth overall for the Bombers.

The rest of the top five in the team race included sixth-ranked Gilbert (77) in second, eighth-ranked Carlisle (79) in third, 14th-ranked Clear Creek-Amana (95) in fourth and 11th-ranked Pella (98) in fifth.

Newton was better than a pair of conference rivals as Grinnell (202) and Oskaloosa (221) came in seventh and eighth, respectively, with Bondurant-Farrar (230), Fairfield (238), Knoxville (304) and Nevada (351) completing the 12-team field.

Ninth-ranked Ainsley Erzen of Carlisle was the individual runner-up in 19:43.46. Tenth-ranked Raegan Snider of Pella finished third in 19:52.84.

The Cardinals’ second finisher was freshman Hadley Kruse, who was 29th in career-best 21:41.02.

Kruse began the season on the junior varsity but once she moved into the varsity lineup, she became one of the team’s top runners.

“She just needed that extra bit of confidence. I think she surprised herself,” Tipton said.

The other three scoring runners were junior Kate Muckler (22:22.1), senior Kelsey Church (22:25.89) and freshman Bella Winther (22:31.84) in 41st, 42nd and 43rd, respectively.

Senior Morgan Stalzer (22:40.58) was 47th and senior Laura Sander (24:37.54) finished 72nd.

“Three seniors ended their careers tonight. Kelsey and Morgan were four-year participants and we were lucky to gain Laura this year,” Tipton said. “Kelsey and Morgan have been excellent captains and the other seniors stepped up to help set the tone for the season and make it successful. They will be truly missed.”

The biggest challenge for Shannon coming into the season involved pacing. She figured it out before the biggest race of the season though.

“In the beginning of the season, I started out too fast. In the middle, I slowed down and was starting too slow,” Shannon said. “So there was a learning curve. Today, I got out faster and that helped. I was able to get up front and stay up front.

“I tried to stick with a front group the best I could knowing they were in the top 15.”

Tipton wanted Shannon to stay in the top 25 early and work her way into the top 15 before the race ended. She was able to do much better than that.

“I knew she had a chance at the top 10. The key today was to make sure she didn’t get out too slow,” Tipton said. “She likes to build in her runs, but she started out too slow at conference and she had to make up too much ground. So today starting out a little faster was important.”

Shannon will run in the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships at 2:30 p.m. on October 29 at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.

Notes: Pella Sports Park hosted an unofficial JV meet on Monday. Four Cardinals competed in the girls’ 5K race. Lauren Nook led the way in 26:33, while Heather Perry hit the finish line in 26:52. Jessie Hutchinson ran a personal-best time of 31:21 and Aryssa Hinderberger was clocked in 34:29. It was the final race of Perry’s career. “Heather ran such a focused and determined race, she kept Lauren in her sights and had a great kick,” Tipton said. “She was 2 seconds from her personal record she set as a freshman. What a great end to a standout season.”