Career-best run nets C-M’s Hosbond top-20 finish at state cross country meet

FORT DODGE — Ashlynn Hosbond was out of excuses. It was just time to go for it.

And the Tigerhawk sophomore posted a career-best time and finished 20th at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships on Saturday.

“I started to believe in myself and told myself I was capable of it,” Hosbond said. “I decided to just go for it and see what happens.”

Hosbond came into her second state cross country meet ranked No. 26. But she fared better than a pair of runners who edged her out throughout the season and came within 8 seconds of a state medal.

Colfax-Mingo senior Sullivan Wilkins joined Hosbond at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course inside Kennedy Park and finished 37th in his first state meet.

“It was a good experience especially after missing it by one spot last year,” Wilkins said. “I’m proud of how I did. I gave my all. It sucks though because I wanted to finish my career with a time under 17 minutes.”

There were 158 runners in the Class 1A girls’ 5K state race, and over half of the top 15 were seniors.

That’s where Hosbond hopes to be next year after moving up 60 spots from her first time on the state course.

Her 20th-place finish was clocked in a career-best 19 minutes, 50.5 seconds. That would have earned her a top-15 finish in 2A.

“I want to get on the deck. I think that would be so cool,” Hosbond said. “I never imagined I’d be that close to the top 15 considering I was 82nd last year. It’s crazy to climb 60 spots in one year.”

Top-ranked Lili Denton of Council Bluffs St. Albert defended her title with a time of 17:56.6 and then committed to the University of Texas on Monday.

Second-ranked Chloe Glosser of Pekin was the runner-up in 18:33.5.

Hosbond was less than 4 seconds behind conference rival Emmerson Jedlicka of North Mahaska but finished in front of No. 15 Jayden Peters of Collins-Maxwell and No. 20 Elizabeth Erickson of Colo-NESCO.

Erickson was faster than Hosbond at this year’s state qualifying meet, but Hosbond was able to use last year’s state experience to her advantage.

“I realized from last year that it’s not always going to be easy in the beginning. You just have to push yourself,” Hosbond said. “I need to keep putting in the work. I felt tired at the end today so more work and more mileage will help with that. I need to get in the weight room more, too.”

Wilkins competed in the state meet for the first time but put together an impressive final race, finishing 37th in the 1A boys’ state race with a time of 17:20.2.

There were 152 runners in the 1A boys’ 5K race 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. A time of 16:49.6 was needed to earn one of the 15 state medals.

“I went out 10 seconds faster than normal,” Wilkins said. “That was a bit too hard. I’m just glad I got to experience it this year.”