The Linn-Mar High School girls cross country team is No. 2 in the state and No. 1 in the Mississippi Valley Conference.

The Lions captured their first MVC Super Meet title in school history Thursday with a strong performance at Noelridge Park by placing five girls in the top 11.

Linn-Mar finished 4-5-7-8-11 with Brooklyn Kascel, Carolyn Newhouse, Rachel Perry, Morgan Uridil and Maddie Saville tightly bunched within 21 seconds.

Newhouse has been Linn-Mar's top runner all season, but Kascel nudged her by three seconds with a strong finish.

"I honestly didn't think I could beat Carolyn," Kascel said. "But we just feed off each other the whole race, and if I run with her it makes me go faster."

The den of Lions finished with 35 points for a comfortable 16-point margin over Cedar Falls. Iowa City High was third.

"Awesome," Kascel said. "We worked so hard to get to this place."

Cedar Falls runners finished 1-2 with Allison Gregg and Brianna King at the top, but the Tigers didn't have the depth to match the Lions. The next three Cedar Falls runners were 13-17-18.

Linn-Mar is ranked No. 2 in the state in the latest Class 4A poll, trailing Dowling Catholic. The Lions have been ranked high all season, but shot all the way to No. 2 this week.

"We were really surprised, because last year we weren't that high up," Kascel said. "And this year we're working really hard and it's really paid off."

Linn-Mar Coach Todd Goodell thought his team had a chance to win the MVC title, but the Valley has other strong teams with third-ranked Iowa City High, No. 8 Iowa City West, No. 10 Cedar Falls and No. 11 Cedar Rapids Kennedy.

"I thought they performed well. It's the way we were hoping they would perform," said Goodell, in his 14th year as the girls and boys cross country coach at Linn-Mar.

"Brooklyn Kascel popped off a good one today. They ran well as a pack again. We have a couple more big ones to go."

The Mississippi Division meet will be held in Dubuque Oct. 13, followed by the regional meet Oct. 20 and the state meet Oct. 29.

Dowling Catholic beat Linn-Mar at the Heartland Classic Sept. 17, but the Lions appear to be getting stronger. They hope to challenge for the state title in Fort Dodge in three weeks.

"I think we have a chance if we keep working hard and just trust in each other," Kascel said.

"We're hoping we can make it interesting," Goodell said.

Kennedy finished fifth in the MVC team standings. Washington was eighth, Prairie ninth, Xavier 11th and Jefferson 13th.

Shannon Gorman of Washington placed 10th. Bree Gaster of Prairie was 15th.

MVC SUPER MEET
Girls Results
Noelridge Park
4K

Team Standings

1. Linn-Mar 35, 2. Cedar Falls 51, 3. Iowa City High 74, 4. Iowa City West 116, 5. Kennedy 141, 6. Dubuque Senior 156, 7. Wahlert 162, 8. Washington 197, 9. Prairie 246, 10. Hempstead 261, 11. Xavier 314, 12. Waterloo West 371, 13. Jefferson 381, 14. Waterloo East 450.

Top 15 Individuals

1. Allison Gregg, Cedar Falls        14:38
2. Brianna King, Cedar Falls         14:45
3. Meg Richardson, City High      14:56
4. Brooklynn Kascel, Linn-Mar      14:57
5. Carolyn Newhouse, Linn-Mar     15:00
6. Pombie Silverman, IC West      15:02
7. Rachel Perry, Linn-Mar             15:04
8. Morgan Uridil, Linn-Mar            15:06
9. Molly Leveille, IC West            15:09
10. Shannon Gorman, Washington    15:14
11. Maddie Saville, Linn-Mar         15:18
12. Harper Beasley, City High       15:22
13. Cassy Herkelman, Cedar Falls  15:22
14. Lindsey Bruns, City High        15:25
15. Bree Gaster, Prairie              15:25

LINN-MAR: 4. Brooklynn Kascel 14:57, 5. Carolyn Newhouse 15:00, 7. Rachel Perry 15:04, 8. Morgan Uridil 15:06, 11. Maddie Saville 15:18, 30. Caitlin Novak 16:00, 45. Olivia Miller 16:26.

KENNEDY: 19. Alyssa Averhoff 15:37, 21. Katie Wampole 15:41, 31. Jessica Rodman 16:01, 34. Lauren Meyer 16:09, 36. Tara Mittelberg 16:15, 46. Megan Terukina 16:27.

WASHINGTON: 10. Shannon Gorman 15:14, 40. Colby Bjornsen 16:17, 44. Katie Karamitros 16:23, 47. Morgan Stuckenschneider 16:28, 56. Madison Stuckenschneider 16:38, 66. Joslyn Ross 17:06, 70. Anna Kline 17:15.

PRAIRIE: 15. Bree Gaster 15:25, 39. Beth Heims 16:16, 53. Maddie Rainey 16:34, 60. Anastasia Jordan 16:55, 79. Holly Wisnousky 17:53, 83. Ashley Hawkins 18:16.

XAVIER: 52. Marinna Schroud 16:33, 61. Ann Glavan 16:58, 64. Allison Pitz 17:03, 68. Sarah Chicchelly 17:08, 69. Rachel Sigmon 17:12, 75. Katy Ropp 17:34, 82. Lauren Smith 18:10.

JEFFERSON: 59. Rachel Sedlacek 16:49, 67. Michelle Zikes 17:07, 84. Carson Burgart 18:24, 85. Bethany Polansky 18:51, 86. Rachel Broghammer 18:57, 87. Jennifer McDowell 19:07.