C-M’s Hosbond represents Tigerhawks at state cross country meet

FORT DODGE — Colfax-Mingo’s Ashlynn Hosbond walked away from her first state cross country meet experience disappointed. She wanted to run a personal-best time.

But with three more years to go in her career, the Tigerhawk freshman could have a few more opportunities to reach her goals on the biggest stage.

Her first time through the Class 1A girls’ 5K race at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships resulted in an 82nd-place finish.

“I wasn’t super happy with how I did actually,” Hosbond said. “I wanted to get a personal best. It was a few seconds off my PR.”

Hosbond’s time at Lakeside Golf Course inside Kennedy Park was clocked in 21 minutes, 33.9 seconds. The 15th and final medalist completed the race in 19:40.4.

The 82nd-place finish came out of 150 runners. She was the 13th best freshman in the field and her time was the second best of her career.

“I had nerves in the beginning,” Hosbond said. “It was a lot easier to navigate the course, but I didn’t start off very well.

“Now that I know what I’m doing, it can only be better. I just want to be more confident and run more. There’s a lot of things I need to work on. I’ll figure it out.”

Class 1A No. 1 Lili Denton of Council Bluffs St. Albert was the 1A girls’ winner in 17:59.3.

Second-ranked Nora Peterson of Alta-Aurelia was the runner-up in 18:28.5. Third-ranked Chloe Glosser of Pekin placed third in 18:31.9. Peterson was fourth last year, and Glosser was 17th.

“(Hosbond) was a little disappointed she didn’t have a season-best time at state, but I think she’s determined to have an even better season next year,” Colfax-Mingo head cross country coach Zach Tomas said. “On our way back from Fort Dodge, she was already discussing goals for next season. I believe she’s only scratched the surface of what she can accomplish in her career.”

Class 1A No. 1 Earlham won the girls’ team championship with 91 points. Second-ranked Madrid was the runner-up with 109 despite placing three in the top 15.

Fourth-ranked Treynor (172) edged ninth-ranked South Winneshiek (173) for third and third-ranked English Valleys (175) was close behind in fifth.

Class 1A No. 5 Lynnville-Sully (203) was eighth, eighth-ranked Martensdale-St. Marys (223) placed 10th and 16th-ranked Collins-Maxwell (310) ended up 15th.

Madrid led Earlham by 29 points after the first three runners, but the Cardinals rallied after its final two scoring runners were 47 points better than their Tiger counterparts.