FORT DODGE - Myles Bach and Jeremy Fopma are only sophomores at Marion High School, but they had high hopes at the Class 3A state cross country meet in Fort Dodge Saturday.

"We wanted to go 1-2," Fopma declared confidently. "We felt like we had a shot. It was within range."

Bach was credited with fifth place and Fopma was awarded sixth place, even though both 10th graders had identical times of 16 minutes, 33.5 seconds. They were engaged in a terrific photo finish for 4th, 5th and 6th with Nick Peters of Estherville Lincoln Central, who edged them by one-tenth of a second in 16:33.4 for fourth.

You see photo finishes like that in track on occasion, but it's rare for it to happen at the end of a 5 kilometer cross country race when the runners are sore and tired.

Bach and Fopma were aiming for the top, but were proud of themselves for a good showing.

"Yeah, real happy with that," said Bach. "I trained hard all summer. That was good."

The two Indians had a plan and stuck with it.

"We kind of wanted to go out slow," Fopma explained. "That last mile is tough. Last year and this year, we wanted to go a little slower so we could catch them at the end.

"It worked out pretty good," he said. "We're not happy until we get first, so we'll come back for more next year."

The Marion boys finished 10th in the 3A standings.

One member of the Bach family was happy, but the other was disappointed Saturday. Maddie Bach, a senior, had hoped to compete for the Class 3A title in the girls race, but she finished 30 seconds behind the winner in 10th place after running with the leaders for awhile.

"I tried," she said. "I went for it. I think I went after them too soon. I got anxious."

"She's a great runner," Myles Bach said of his sister. "She's been training hard for four years. She just didn't have it today."

Both Bachs entertained thoughts of winning gold medals. "Me and her were both brought up on winning," Myles Bach said.

The Marion girls finished sixth in the Class 3A team standings.

Jenny Dickes of Xavier was actually the top finisher in the Class 3A girls race among Metro runners. Dickes finished in 12th place. Maddie Bach placed 10th in the team competition, but was 13th overall. Dickes ran as an individual, not with a team.

The Xavier Saints finished 14th out of 15 teams in the Class 3A boys race.

The Linn-Mar girls finished 12th out of 15 teams in the Class 4A competition. Washington freshman Reagan Gorman had a tough day and placed 18th in the Class 4A girls race.

CLASS 3A BOYS RESULTS

Team Standings

1. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 50, 2. Grinnell 81, 3. Pella 94, 4. Dallas Center-Grimes 138, 5. Decorah 150, 6. Winterset 185, 7. Gilbert 203, 8. Mount Pleasant 206, 9. Vinton-Shellsburg 235, 10. Marion 259, 11. MOC-Floyd Valley 260, 12. Humboldt 279, 13. Harlan 280, 14. Xavier 312, 15. Spirit Lake 337.

Champion - Logan Murray, Mount Pleasant, 16.17.2.

Marion - 3. Myles Bach 16:33.5, 4. Jeremy Fopma 16:33.5, 76. Nick Ward 18:05.1, 83. Jacob Manderscheid 18:14.8, 93. Harrison Vanderlinden 18:48.1, 96. Jared Almandinger 18:48.1, 100. Salem Snoop 19:05.4.

Xavier - 27. Jonathan Francois 17:12.9, 67. Mahlon Steepleton 17:49.9, 70. John Pape 17:58.0, 71. Joe Scieszinski 17:58.0, 77. Steven Culpepper 18:07.3, 79. Nolan Pithan 18:10.6, 88. Nick Lyon 18:22.9.

CLASS 3A GIRLS RESULTS

1. Davenport Assumption 131, 2. Pella 145, 3. Wahlert 146, 4. Dallas Center-Grimes 158, 5. Decorah 164, 6. Marion 171, 7. Gilbert 182, 8. Humboldt 200, 9. Vinton-Shellsburg 202, 10. Fort Madison 216, 11. Sioux City Heelan 218, 12. Denison-Schleswig 223, 13. Spencer 231, 14. Ballard 286, 15. Harlan 305.

Champion - Julia Schumacher, Assumption, 19:01.8.

Marion - 10. Maddie Bach 19:31.8, 18. Hallie Kephart 19:59.5, 28. Andrea Ertz 20:18.3, 51. Avery Manderscheid 20:54.1, 64. Ellie Conzett 21:13.9, 86. Mia Laube 21:52.4, 92. Kelsi Huhndorf 22:10.2.

Xavier - 12. Jenny Dickes 19:30.4.

CLASS 4A GIRLS RESULTS

Team Standings

1. Urbandale 64, 2. Pleasant Valley 83, 3. Bettendorf 139, 4. Iowa City High 150, 5. Iowa City West 151, 6. Muscatine 154, 7. Johnston 155, 8. Waukee 180, 9. Dowling 228, 10. Ames 242, 11. Cedar Falls 246, 12. Linn-Mar 272, 13. Hempstead 280, 14. Ankeny Centennial 316, 15. Indianola 395.

Champion - McKenzie Yanek, Pleasant Valley, 17:55.0.

Linn-Mar - 17. Maddie Mann 19:08.1, 23. Morgan Garcia 19:19.6, 65. Deanna Newhouse 20:09.5, 73. Amber Decker 20:20.7, 94. Rachel Bohnenkamp 21:04.4, 98. Maddy Genskow 21:19.4, 99. Abby Van Rheenen 21:21.9.

Washington - 18. Reagan Gorman 19:07.1, 61. Sarah Altemeier 19:56.4.

Kennedy - 34. Hannah Fusselman 19:27.0.

Jefferson - 68. Meredith Koenigsfeld 20:00.9, 77. Sarah Hanna 20:06.5.