Six area runners look for gold in Fort Dodge

By Daily News Staff

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PCM’s Koelten Reed (left) and Jake Potter run side-by-side during Monday’s Class 2A District Meet in Greenfield. Both will be competing at Saturday’s State Meet in Fort Dodge. (Ben Frotscher/Daily News)

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FORT DODGE — Lynnville-Sully cross country coach Darin Arkema easily remembers the last time the Hawks had both a boy and girl reach the State Cross Country Meet — he was still a senior in high school.

The year was 1995.

“My senior year I was fourth at districts as an individual qualifier, and our team qualified as well,” Arkema said. “We finished 13th. The girls were dominant and had like four individual qualifiers as the team was district and state champions that year and again the following year.”

Fastforward to Arkema as coach and he has the Hawks back to getting multiple runners to state — with senior Mariah Terlouw and junior Andy Sneller. Both will be making their first appearances at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.

Terlouw marks the first girl to qualify from Lynnville-Sully since Jill Rozendaal in 2000, while Sneller is the first male qualifier since Anthony Ebert in 2003. Arkema said the goal was to get both to the state meet.

“For both Andy and Mariah, the idea of qualifying for state was the goal they were working all season to accomplish,” Arkema said. “Especially for Mariah as a senior and having been so close a year ago, what she wanted was to qualify for state. Andy knew he was capable of it as well.”

But now the goals have changed for both Terlouw and Sneller — Terlouw looking to run something in the low 16 minute area or even high 15 minute, while Sneller wants a finish in the top-25.

“The state course and the environment lead themselves toward helping runners achieve season and personal best times,” Arkema said. “We want to finish the year racing our fastest. They know they are racing against the best the state has to offer in Class 1A, but I’m also trying to help them realize that they belong there, and that they too are great runners.

“They believe in themselves and the work they’ve done to get to this point. You don’t just wake up one morning and become a state qualifier.”

For the Class 1A girls, Audrey Griffin of Clinton Prince of Peace is the top returning runner after placing second last year with a time of 14 minutes, 44 seconds. Katy Moen of Wapsie Valley brings in the fastest time to the state meet from regionals with a time of 15:10.

On the boys side for Class 1A, Jamie Meek of Griswold is the highest returning finisher after taking second last year with a time of 16:02. Bill Spencer of Iowa Mennonite comes in with the fastest district time, clocking in at 16:46.

Moving to Class 2A, Alec Baldwin of Spirit Lake — a junior — is the top returning finisher. He finished third last year with a time of 16:18, but he was only fourth at the district meet.

Garrett Ehlers of OA-BCIG comes in with the fastest district time, clocking in at 15:43.

Despite not sending a team to the state meet for the first time since 2004, PCM will have three individuals competing in the 2A boys race — senior Kaleb Catron, junior Jake Potter and sophomore Koelten Reed.

“I would like to see the guys go out strong, claim their spot and then keep it,” PCM coach Ashley Wrich said. “I want them to compete with the other runners around them and to do their absolute best. I want them to push each other.”

Catron is the veteran runner of the bunch, making his first appearance in Fort Dodge. As a freshman, he was 120th in 19:33. After taking 95th as a sophomore in 18:21, he finished 32nd with a time of 17:18 last season.

Potter will be making his third appearance at the state meet, placing 85th in 18:04 as a freshman and taking 15th last year in 17:01. Reed is making his second appearance after reaching the deck last year with a time of 16:52, good enough for 10th.

“I would enjoy seeing them all PR from districts,” Wrich said. “They have the mental toughness and stamina to all have great races. They need to go out strong and compete. They need to find the person they want to beat and then go after them.”

Moving to Class 4A and the boys, defending champion J.T. McCarthy is back from Burlington for his senior season. Newton’s Colten McDermott finished 14th last season, but eight runners graduated in front of him from 2008.

McDermott is ranked No. 5 heading into Saturday and the first step for the senior was recovering from an illness. He ran with flu-like symptoms at the district meet Monday but is feeling better heading into the weekend.

“If he is healthy, I think Colten can compete with the top runners,” Newton coach John Bartello said. “His goal is to medal, but my goal for him is to be in the top five. He’s capable, he’s practiced hard and I think he can achieve that. From what I’ve seen from him and other runners, he’s good enough.”

Also back from 2008 is McCarthy’s teammate Marshall Moyer, who was runner-up last season. With one of those runners in contention, there is a good chance that an athlete from eastern Iowa will win the title once again — 24 of the past 30 winners in the 4A boys race have gone that way.

Also watch out for Kevin Lewis of Ottumwa, Eli Horton of Southeast Polk, Storm Lake’s Paul Yak and Conor Wells and Andrew Barrett from Des Moines Roosevelt.

Either way for all runners involved, it’s a weekend to remember.

“We’re going to enjoy this week and the upcoming weekend,” Arkema said. “It’s an honor and privilege for me to able to coach two individuals competing in the state meet. This is also a celebration and exciting moment for our team and this program. Every individual on this team considers it an honor that these two made it.”