Bolts make historic run to state meet

JEWELL — Matt Richardson and Max Handorf came into the Class 1A state qualifying cross country meet with specific plans on how they wanted to attack the boys’ 5K race on Thursday.

Richardson executed according to the plan, but Handorf was not happy at all with the way he performed.

The Bolts still made history though as the 1A No. 14 Baxter boys cross country team finished second in the team standings and advanced to the state meet for the first time in program history.

“I think it’s very cool the team made it,” Richardson said. “It’s not only an accomplishment for the team but also our school. It might not have gone completely how we wanted, but we still ended up beating the teams we were supposed to.”

The Bolts scored 101 points in second and were no match for 1A No. 6 Ankeny Christian Academy, which won the meet with 28 points.

The top two teams and first 10 individual finishers in 1A advance to the state meet in Fort Dodge. Baxter was 31 points clear of third place West Fork (132).

Richardson and Handorf both qualified individually, too. They will be joined by teammate Makayla True, who finished ninth in the girls’ race to advance to her first state meet.

Colfax-Mingo freshman Ashlynn Hosbond also advanced after finishing less than 3 seconds behind True in 10th.

The season is over for the C-M boys. The Tigerhawks placed seventh in both the boys and girls team races.

“I’m proud of our efforts as both boys and girls teams finished the season strong,” C-M head cross country coach Zach Tomas said. “Our seven seniors were excellent leaders for us this year and we know replacing them will not be easy.”

Richardson’s strategy was to lead from the starting gun. He ran his first mile at under a 5-minute pace and secured the individual championship with a time of 16 minutes, 51.5 seconds.

Richardson, who is ranked 13th in 1A, was 14 seconds in front of 1A No. 12 Alex Davis of Ankeny Christian. Davis was the runner-up in 17:06.8. Richardson and Davis were the only two ranked individuals in the field and the Bolts and Eagles are the lone ranked teams, too.

“My mindset going into the race was to lead the pack the whole race,” Richardson said. “So I ended up doing that by going out in a sub five first mile and then just slowly decreased off that split. It ended up working well for me and helped me secure the win by quite a bit over the rest of my competition.”

Richardson’s win locked up his third straight state berth. Handorf clinched his second state berth after finishing eighth in 17:50.9.

Handorf, who was the top freshman finisher in last year’s state race, has high expectations that he did not meet but was good enough to be in the top 10 and help his team advance to state for the first time.

“I honestly think I was too confident and when some guys passed me who I should be way ahead of, mentally I had given up, which I’m not happy with,” Handorf said. “I’m not proud of how I ran but getting eighth when having arguably the worst race of the year is not a bad thing. Especially when the team can pull through and get second place by quite a bit.”

Maddox Peters (18:58.2) was 23rd in the boys’ race and the final two scoring runners were Brecken Fisher (19:00.8) and Dakota Parker (20:07.9) in 26th and 51st, respectively.

Logan Rainsbarger (21:44.3) and Parker Bonney (23:28.6) were non-scoring runners in 80th and 96th, respectively.

Colfax-Mingo’s Sullivan Wilkins was just outside the top 10 in 13th. He was clocked in 18:11.7. The 10th and final qualifier ran a 17:53.7.

“Sully came up just a few spots away from making it on the boys side, but I really believe this will motivate him going into track and the next cross country season,” Tomas said.

The other scoring runners for the Tigerhawks were Harrison Rhone (19:25.7) in 34th, Josue Rodriguez (19:26.7) in 35th, Mario Rodriguez (19:39.3) in 42nd and Owen Ament (20:27.9) in 60th.

Ryan Moore (22:40.5) and Tony Buenrostro (22:08.3) were non-scoring runners in 90th and 84th, respectively.

Grand View Christian (134) trailed West Fork by two points in fourth. Collins-Maxwell (146) completed the top five and the next five in the top 14-team field were Martensdale-St. Marys (150), Colfax-Mingo (167), East Marshall (190), GMG (205) and BCLUW (222). There were five incomplete teams, too.

Ankeny Christian won the team title by placing four in the top six and five in the first 12.

Class 1A No. 8 Martensdale-St. Marys won the girls’ team title with 52 points. Collins-Maxwell returns to the state meet after scoring 80 points in second.

The Spartans were eight points better than 1A No. 13 Grand View Christian (88) and the rest of the top five featured BCLUW (115) and East Marshall (126).

South Hamilton (139) led the next five followed by Colfax-Mingo (157), North Tama (189), Montezuma (198) and West Fork (254). BGM (263) completed the 11-team field and Baxter was one of six incomplete teams.

The field featured three ranked individuals. True led the Bolts in ninth with a career-best time of 21:20.8. She’s the first Baxter female state qualifier since Elie Tuhn in 2021.

“Going into the race I knew it was going to be very close, and it was going to come down to who wanted it more,” True said. “So I knew I just had to focus on getting out fast and catching each girl I could.”

True’s teammate, Zoey Gliem, capped her career with a 25th place finish. She was clocked in 23:37.4.

Hosbond is the first Colfax-Mingo female state qualifier since Abbey McConeghey advanced for a second time in 2019. Hosbond’s 10th-place time was clocked in 21:23.2.

“My goal was to push myself and go outside of my comfort zone,” Hosbond said. “If I didn’t qualify, I wanted to set a new PR. Along with that, I wanted to be positive and handle hard well.”

Mallory Sipma (23:40.5) and Shae Wilkins (24:02) were next for C-M in 27th and 33rd, respectively.

Lilyan Hasdall (25:51.6) and Laila Kwaskiewicz (26:55.1) were the final two scoring runners in 49th and 57th, respectively, and Devan Chadwick (30:42.7) was a non-scoring runner in 72nd.

“We knew coming in Ashlynn had a chance if she could duplicate her times from the last few meets and she exceeded that with her career best time,” Tomas said.

Class 1A No. 4 Karson Oberender of Martensdale-St Marys won the girls’ race in 19:33.2. Class 1A No. 6 Jayden Peters of Collins-Maxwell was the runner-up in 19:54.4.

Martensdale-St. Marys won the girls’ team title after placing five in the top 22. Collins-Maxwell edged Grand View Christian because its third, fourth and fifth runners came in a few positions before their Thunder counterparts.

Richardson goes into his third state meet with his confidence at an all-time high. The top 15 finishers in each state race earn medals, and the Baxter senior hopes to be in the top eight.

He was 30th last year and 55th as a sophomore. Handorf finished 34th in his first state experience last season.

“My confidence is at its peak right now,” Richardson said. “Lately I have been running some of the best times in 1A. It helps that I have consistently been winning our meets and running in the mid to low 16s. Hopefully state goes by smoothly and I achieve my overall goal.”

The Bolts will start in Box 19. That’s close to No. 5 Earlham, which will start in Box 16. Familiar faces, No. 15 Lynnville-Sully and No. 6 ACA, will start in Boxes 7 and 12.

Handorf hopes to rebound from his state-qualifying meet performance. His goal is to be in the top 15 as well.

“My big goal for state is top 15. I will have to have an extremely good race to pull it off, but I know I can do it,” Handorf said. “I know I can be close to Matt because we have been training together all season, and he’s running top five times in the state right now.”

True started her career at PCM and was part of a Mustangs’ squad that nearly qualified as a team in 2A last season. She realized after placing second at Colo-NESCO earlier this season that making the state meet was possible. Placing in the top 10 at conference also didn’t hurt her confidence.

“I’m very excited to be going to state and my goal is to break 21 minutes,” True said. “I still am in contact with the girls from PCM and after I had talked to a few of them they told me they not only had individuals that had made it, but the girls team also qualified. I was beyond excited for them and knew they had worked hard all season for that.”

True will start the girls’ 1A state race from Box 11 and Hosbond will be in Box 22.

The C-M freshman didn’t think making it to state this year was possible when the season started. As the season progressed, and the times continued to drop, she began to think it could become her reality.

“It feels surreal to be going to state, especially knowing I hardly knew anything about even how to qualify a year ago,” Hosbond said. “To prepare for state, I’m going to work on racing strategies. My goal is to get a new personal best and run with girls who are usually faster than me.”

The Baxter boys enter the state meet ranked 13th in 1A. No. 6 Ankeny Christian Academy is the only 1A team the Bolts have lost to this season.

But the top 16 teams in the latest rankings all qualified for state. The favorites for the team title include No. 1 Lake Mills, No. 2 Ogden, No. 3 Woodbine, No. 4 Danville and No. 5 Earlham.

North Iowa’s Gavin Grunhovd is the top ranked 1A boy and Lili Denton of Council Bluffs St. Albert is the top ranked girl in the field.

“I think it’s so amazing to be taking the whole team this year plus one girl,” Handorf said. “This was my main goal since last year so I’m glad to have helped make that happen.”