PCM girls finish second, qualify for state meet for second straight season

PELLA — Ali Hilsabeck struggled to stay in the varsity lineup during PCM’s run to the state cross country meet last season.

But after a dedicated offseason, a confidence-building track and field season in the spring and better focus on nutrition, the Mustang junior is firmly in the top three of PCM’s lineup this season, and her incredible effort around the Central College 5K course on Thursday helped lead the PCM girls cross country team to the state meet for the second straight season.

“It was a better mindset. I came in really confident and was thinking about all the work we put in as a team,” Hilsabeck said. “I was ready to race today.

“Last year I struggled with anemia. I take iron supplements every day, take my nutrition seriously and figuring all that out helped me get healthy again.”

Hilsabeck was one of three Mustangs who earned an individual qualification into this week’s state cross country meet.

Abi Teeter finished .54 seconds in front of Hilsabeck to earn a sixth-place finish and Lila Milani was 12th in the girls’ 5K race at Central College.

The top 15 individuals and the top three teams qualified for the state meet in Fort Dodge.

The No. 4 Mustangs were only two points back of No. 3 Pella Christian in the race for the regional championship.

The Eagles scored 59 points at the top of the standings and PCM was second with 61. Bailey Vos headlined Pella Christian in third, and the Eagles went 3-11-13-15-18 with their five scoring runners.

Teeter, Hilsabeck and Milani all were inside the top 15 and Annie Ford placed 16th, but the Eagles were a little better at the back end of their lineup.

“I’m very excited with the girls team today and what they did,” PCM head cross country coach Eric Osterhaus said. “We knew what we had to do. We knew we had a good shot at both teams getting in, but we still have to show up and race. Everybody is here with the same goal and purpose, and you have to make sure you run your best race.”

Teeter, who is ranked No. 17 in 2A, was not at her ultimate best but still finished sixth with a time of 20 minutes, 20.23 seconds. Hilsabeck was seventh in 20:20.77.

“I ran like I have more to run at state,” Teeter said. “I haven’t felt the best the past few days so I was nervous coming in.

“I don’t think we expected this to happen during my freshman year. To qualify once last year was awesome and to do it back-to-back just shows some grit with not having one of our top runners.”

The Mustangs did not have the services of sophomore Darbey DeRaad because of an injury. But they still found a way to get back to the state meet and this time hope to bring home some hardware as a top-three team.

No. 13 Albia also advanced to state in third. The Blue Demons scored 83 points, and the rest of the top five included No. 18 Grand View Christian (106) and Shenandoah (112). Interstate 35 (138), Davis County (166) and Clarinda (179) completed the eight-team field.

“The goal for the girls is to podium. Can we do that without (DeRaad)? I’m not sure,” Osterhaus said. “That’s tough to do, but that’s the goal. We’ll set the goal high and see what happens.”

Teeter will run at the state meet for the third time as an individual qualifier. The same goes for Milani, who finished 12th in 20:54.53. Ford (21:18.31) and Paiten Rumbaugh (21:43.18) were the final scoring runners and Bailey Wheeler (22:05.01) and Jodi Jungling (22:37.03) were non-scoring runners in 25th and 33rd, respectively.

“I feel accomplished,” Milani said. “I didn’t know what was going on my freshman year. I went out to stay in shape for basketball really. I fell in love with it my sophomore year and just focused on the mental side of things.

“I have been going through some things this year but pushed through the best I could. I was doing this for my team so it meant more.”

Neither Rumbaugh nor Jungling were on last year’s state qualifying team so they will both run at the state meet for the first time.

Rumbaugh did not have expectations of being on a state-qualifying team when the season started but established herself as a varsity runner pretty quickly.

“It feels amazing,” Rumbaugh said. “I took every practice seriously this year. I’m a senior, I made some goals and accomplishing those goals feels great.

“We knew what we can do as a team, and we knew were capable of this. We don’t have cockiness or anything, but we just ran like we should have ran and knew we could run.”

Osterhaus said Hilsabeck and Ford were the biggest difference makers for the Mustangs on Thursday.

Ford was on the varsity last year but made a big jump this season and has moved into the No. 4 spot on the team in recent meets.

“The expectations last year set the bar for this year,” Ford said. “I kind of told myself to run my hardest. I went out with the idea to make the race like Chariton. I ran well there and wanted to replicate that today.”

Teeter was impressed with her squad being able to make the state meet without DeRaad. She cited one of the team meetings this season as when the dream of making it back to state became more of a reality.

“I can’t really put this into words,” Teeter said. “It came down to others having to step up with Darbey not in there. We have mature girls and we have girls who are here for the team and that’s a big part of this.

“(Hilsabeck) killed it today. We talk about it all the time in practice. She struggled to be in our top seven last year. Watching her do what she’s doing this year kind of makes me tear up.”

Osterhaus said Hilsabeck’s eyes were open to what she could this season after qualifying for state in track and field last spring.

Her performance on Thursday has Osterhaus excited for what the front end of his lineup can do at state.

“She brought her ‘A’ game,” Osterhaus said of Hilsabeck. “She made moves when she needed to make moves, she closed gaps when she needed to close gaps and she got girls when she needed to get girls. She was a huge difference maker for us.”

Class 2A No. 2 McKenna Montgomery of Albia won the girls’ race in 18:07.43 and 2A No. 15 Madi Montgomery of Albia was the runner-up in 19:25.09.

Vos of Pella Christian was third in 19:49.73, Class 2A No. 28 Lydia Parlee of Grand View Christian placed fourth in 20:02.55 and 2A No. 27 Ava O’Rourke of Shenandoah was fifth in 20:18.79.

Notes: The 2A girls’ state race is scheduled to begin at 10:30 a.m. on Friday at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. No. 1 West Marshall, No. 2 Van Meter, No. 3 Pella Christian, No. 4 PCM and No. 5 Forest City all qualified for the state meet. The rest of the field includes No. 6 Waukon, No. 7 Treynor, No. 8 Unity Christian, No. 9 Mid-Prairie, No. 10 Dike-New Hartford, No. 11 Jesup, No. 12 Grundy Center, No. 13 Albia, No. 15 Crestwood and unranked MFL-Mar-Mac. … The Mustangs will start the girls’ race from Box 4. That’s next to or near Forest City, Waukon and West Marshall. Pella Christian begins in Box 14, Albia is in Box 13 and Van Meter is in Box 21. … PCM, Pella Christian, Waukon, Forest City and Unity Christian all qualified both boys and girls teams.