Crestwood harriers battle hard at State Cross Country Meet

FORT DODGE - The Crestwood girls’ cross country team and Cadet senior Nathan Ahern all competed hard at the Class 2A State Cross Country Meet held in Fort Dodge on Saturday, Nov. 2.

In the Class 2A girls’ race, Crestwood placed 13th as a team with 240 points. Mid-Prairie won the girls’ team title with 84 points. Unity Christian was second at 92 and Van Meter placed third with 114 points.

Cadet senior Laney Peter finished 33rd in a time of 20:16.0 seconds. Noelle Steins of Tipton took first place in 18:12.8.

Other Crestwood girls included: 65. Jaylee Vobr 21:10.1; 79. Lexus Dohlman 21:28.6; 91. Mea Shelton 21:41.0; 99. Taylor Reis 22:00.7; 106. Ava Daley 22:07.7; and 130. Alexis Pankow 23:18.3.

In the Class 2A boys’ race, Cadet senior Nathan Ahern placed 59th in 17:31.8. Emerson Vokes of Grundy Center was first in 15:37.5.

Oelwein won the Class 2A boys’ team title with 113 points. Mid-Prairie was second at 128. Unity Christian and Denver tied for third place with 152 points.

Crestwood Head Coach Karen Steffen gave kudos to all the Cadet athletes.

“We are super proud of our athletes who competed at the State Meet,” Steffen said. “They each had set some pretty high goals and gave it everything they had to try to reach their goals. All of them can be proud of their performance and know they ended their season with a successful race.

“We were led by the experience of Nathan and Laney. They guided the others in their preparation for the race, and helped them get into the proper race mindset. There was a little nervousness from all of the kids. You can't compete at this level and not have some sort of nervous anticipation,” Steffen said.