Mustangs show off depth at state cross country meet

FORT DODGE — Only two girls cross country teams from PCM have ever qualified for the state meet. But it wasn’t until Saturday that a Mustangs’ squad finished in the top 10 in the final team standings.

And with no seniors on their varsity roster, it could be just the beginning.

Class 2A No. 6 PCM finished its 2024 season with a seventh-place finish at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships at Lakeside Golf Course.

The Mustangs edged rival Albia by a single point despite the Lady Demons placing two runners in the top 30. The back end of PCM’s lineup was much better though.

“This is surreal. It’s an honor to be here,” PCM junior Raegan Vannoy said. “We all came into this season with the goal to be here and having that mindset helped us. And it’s fulfilling and rewarding because we all worked really hard for this.”

PCM’s lone male qualifier, junior Coby DeRaad, finished 81st in the boys’ 2A race.

The only other PCM girls’ squad to qualify for the state meet was the 2017 Mustangs. This year’s group spent the entire season ranked and a large chunk of that was in the top 10.

Junior Abi Teeter said the Mustangs were a top eight team before they stepped foot onto the girls’ 5K course in Fort Dodge.

The squad backed it up on Saturday, scoring 218 points in seventh. No. 7 Albia was eighth with 219 points, 10th-ranked Roland-Story (235) finished 10th and No. 8 Pella Christian (250) was 14th in the 16-team field.

Third-ranked McKenna Montgomery placed third in the race and the Lady Demons also had the better No. 2 and No. 3 runners. But PCM’s No. 4 finisher, Teeter, was 37 spots in front of her Albia counterpart and sophomore Ali Hilsabeck was 18 spots ahead of her Lady Demon counterpart.

That ended up being a big reason why the Mustangs defeated Albia for the third time this season.

“I didn’t understand how big it was my freshman year when I ran here,” Teeter said. “It was 10 times better having the team here, and I ran a lot better this year.”

Lila Milani, who entered the rankings at No. 20 last week, once again led the Mustangs in the girls’ 2A race. She was 43rd overall in a career-best time of 20 minutes, 36.5 seconds. She was 79th in last year’s race as a freshman.

“I was expecting better things, but I did get a PR,” Milani said. “I wanted to do better, but I have two more years. I’m going to do whatever I can control.”

Milani and Teeter were the only two runners from PCM’s girls squad who had any experience at the state meet.

Freshmen Darbey DeRaad and Annie Ford were the next two finishers. DeRaad placed 59th in 21:01.4 and Ford was 69th in 21:16.8. Teeter’s season-best 21:17.5 placed her 70th and Hilsabeck was 101st in 22:05.5.

“I didn’t expect it to be as good as it was,” Hilsabeck said. “I was running with Raegan (Vannoy) and Bailey (Wheeler) most of the race, which was super fun. Everyone cheering was a great experience, too.”

Wheeler (22:17) and Vannoy (22:27) were non-scoring runners in 112th and 114th, respectively.

The runners faced the coldest temperatures of the season throughout the weekend. Darbey DeRaad and Teeter both prefer cold weather to the alternative and Milani thought the conditions were “perfect running weather.”

But Wheeler was not as enthused. She prefers it to be a little bit warmer.

“I don’t like the cold. I’d rather have it be hot,” Wheeler said. “I think it affected me mentally maybe, but it was all right. I love the cheering and the course wasn’t hard compared to the hilly ones we’ve ran on this year.

“It was super fun and being here with the whole team was awesome.”

Second-ranked Mid-Prairie scored 84 points and edged third-ranked Unity Christian (92) by eight points to win the 2A girls team title.

Top-ranked Van Meter (114) was third followed by fourth-ranked Tipton (153) and No. 10 Denver (169). Eleventh-ranked Sumner-Fredericksburg (184) was sixth.

PCM head cross country coach Eric Osterhaus said PCM’s pack running ended up being the difference between finishing seventh instead of eighth.

“Overall, it was a really good race and a really good experience with most of them being here for the first time,” Osterhaus said. “They came and competed and did exactly what we wanted them to do.

“When you can pack up that’s ideal. You want the first five to be together. There was a bigger gap today than normal. They ran really well and when you pack up, they pull each other along. The packs are what got us seventh.”

Top-ranked Noelle Steines won her fourth state championship, winning her first 2A title in 18:12.8. Second-ranked Laura Streck of Van Meter was the runner-up in 18:31.8 and Montgomery’s third-place time was clocked in 18:43.4.

“It sounds good,” Ford said about the team’s seventh-place finish. “We worked so much for that. And that’s crazy to just hear. I feel like we can come back even stronger next year.”

That is the plan for a Mustangs’ squad who did not officially have a head coach until late in the offseason.

“I didn’t take the position until early (last) summer so the expectations going into this summer and coming off track season will be much higher this year,” Osterhaus said. “We’ll set the expectations high.”

Coby DeRaad has high expectations for himself. He thought his performance was ‘fine.’

After finishing 101st as a sophomore last year, Coby DeRaad moved up to 81st this season. His time was clocked in 17:54.9.

“Physically, I was off a little bit. 80 something is fine. 17:50 something is fine,” DeRaad said. “I think I was never at my peak physically. Things just kept getting away from me. My mind was blank, and I got toward the end and I couldn’t see very well and things were blurry. The results won’t show what I was hoping for.”

Coby DeRaad said his biggest hurdle is figuring out how to avoid ‘mini fights’ on the course throughout the race.

“There are so many people running and they are all so close in time,” Coby DeRaad said. “You are always within 10 people. I spent a lot of energy on those little fights. You switch places so many times. I just need to figure out how to run my own race here and quit fighting with those around me. That’s a waste of energy almost.”

Second-ranked Emerson Vokes of Grundy Center won the boys’ 2A title in 15:37.5. No. 12 Alex Torres of Vinton-Shellsburg was the runner-up in 15:55.3.

The top two finishing teams were 1-2 in the rankings, too. No. 1 Oelwein won the 2A boys’ title with 113 points.

No. 2 Mid-Prairie (128) was second, No. 3 Chariton (176) finished fifth and No. 13 Pella Christian (243) was 13th.

While Coby DeRaad was disappointed in his own performance, Osterhaus was not. Everyone is fast at the state meet and DeRaad gave it his all.

“He got out, competed and did his job,” Osterhaus said. “He put it all on the line. When you go out fast and you’re not leading the race but you ran a PR for the first mile, it’s a mental thing. You feel behind because of where you are, but the pace is fast so you are almost drowning the entire time. It’s a tough thing to get over, but it takes hard work, getting used to the fast paced and being able to hold the pace longer.”

Notes: Teeter continues to defy the odds, competing at a high level with Cystic Fibrosis. She also battled pneumonia and faced some other adversity during the season. Hilsabeck also found out two weeks ago that she’s anemic. “I had been feeling tired and light headed every time I ran. We went and got it checked it out,” Hilsabeck said. “I have been taking iron supplements so just being healthier and knowing how to manage that should help me next year.” ... The 15th and final medalist in the girls’ race posted a time of 19:29.3. The boys’ 15th-place finisher hit the line in 16:31.1.