Baxter’s Tuhn scores strong finish in first state cross country meet

FORT DODGE — When Maddux Tuhn was asked why he made the switch from football to cross country after his freshman year, the Baxter sophomore gave a simple answer of “everyone else in my family did it.”

But when he had the chance to ask his oldest sister Elie Tuhn for advice about running at the state cross country meet, Maddux pivoted to her fiancee, Spencer Moon, who won the nationals 10K for Simpson College last year.

“He basically told me to stick behind someone and let them do the work for me,” Maddux Tuhn said.

Tuhn fared better than most non-ranked runners who compete at the state meet for the first time.

There are even some multi-year state qualifiers who haven’t finished as high as Tuhn did on Saturday at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships.

Tuhn did not run a personal-best time, but he was 46th overall in the Class 1A boys’ 5K race at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course inside Kennedy Park.

He posted a time of 17 minutes, 30 seconds. The top 15 finishers in each race earn a spot on the all-state deck. That 15th and final medal time was 16:49.6.

“For this environment, and a not super easy course, I thought he did a good job,” Baxter head cross country coach Ian Thomson said. “You never know what to expect.

“He’s barely ran cross country so I think this is just the beginning for him. I think we have a shot to get three medalists next year and he’s one of them.”

The biggest challenge for first timers at the state cross country meet is trying not to get out too fast. It’s a fast race up front and it’s easy to get caught up in that pace.

Tuhn didn’t think he got out fast enough, though, and Thomson agreed with him.

“He was in 60th at the first quarter mile so I would have liked to see him get out a little faster,” Thomson said.

There were 152 runners in the 1A boys’ state race. Tuhn was in the top 30 percent of the field, and seven of the top 15 finishers were seniors.

South Winneshiek sophomore Hugh Conway won the individual state championship with a time of 15:50.7. He came into the state meet ranked No. 8 in 1A.

Top-ranked Hayden Thompson of Lake Mills was the runner-up in 16:02.7 and second-ranked Knute Rogne of Lake Mills finished third in 16:03.4.

Not even a 2-3 finish could land No. 2 Lake Mills a state championship as it placed second with 69 points.

Class 1A No. 1 Oakland Riverside won the championship with 54 points. Third-ranked Ankeny Christian Academy placed third with 124.

With only one senior on this year’s varsity roster, Thomson anticipates a big season from the Bolts in 2026.

“Looking at the top guys we have back, I think we have a shot to win it next year,” Thomson said. “Max Handorf should be top five, and we think Brecken (Fisher) and (Tuhn) take a step forward, too. We have a lot of guys back from this year and two strong eighth graders coming in who can score, too.”

Thomson expects Tuhn to knock off 30-40 seconds from his time this year. The Baxter sophomore expects to surprise a lot of people next fall, too.

“It was a good experience this year,” Tuhn said. “It felt more real when I got into the start area. The nerves kicked in.

“I need to get in more miles. The most miles this summer I did at one time was five. I went to a few open runs in the offseason, but I should have done more for sure.”