Before the Class 4A district cross country meet began Thursday afternoon at the Tuma soccer complex, Kennedy senior Katie Wampole said she and her teammates had one goal.

“To come and get a state qualifying banner for the first time ever.”

Once the race started on a cold, windy and rainy day, Wampole said her focus changed.

“I was just out there  running to get back into my sweats.”

Under far less than ideal conditions, the Cougar girls followed last week’s conference division title with a district championship over a pair of perennial powerhouses from Iowa City. The two new banners are the first in school history for the girls team.

“I’m excited and awfully proud of these girls,” said Kennedy Coach Mark Jensen, the Mississippi Valley Conference Valley Division coach of the year. “Now, we’ve got bigger fish to fry next week at the state meet. We've got a lot left yet to fight for.”

Besides qualifying for state as a team, Kennedy also had three girls finish in the top 10 and qualify as individuals. Junior Allison Culver finished a distant second to runaway champion Ashlynn Yokom of Iowa City West, Wampole was fourth and junior Alyssa Averhoff came in seventh.

Wampole was running third behind teammate Culver for much of the race but was barely edged out at the finish line by Ellen Carman of Iowa City High.

“She cut in front of me right at the end,”  Wampole said. “And I didn’t have time to bring it back."

For her part,  Culver said she felt good about her race despite a time (15 minutes, 12 seconds) that was far from her personal best of the season (14:28).

“The rain was hitting me in the face the whole way,” she said. “But I was happy to finish in the top three.”

Averhoff, who won the division championship a week ago, said she wasn’t too disappointed in her seventh-place finish.

“This wasn’t my best race,” she said. “But I’m glad two of my teammates finished ahead of me. And our goal was to get the banner. So that’s all that counts.”

Also qualifying for the state meet was Shannon Gorman of Washington, who came in fifth.

In the boys competition,  Prairie junior Mitch Pritts came in a strong second to Iowa City High’s Brook Price to vault the Hawks to third place in the team standings and a return trip to the state meet.

“My thinking was to stick with him the whole way and get him in the end,” said Pritts, who had beaten Price earlier in the season. “But with about a half-mile to go down the stretch, he picked up the pace. I did the best I could.”

Pritts said the inclement weather didn’t hamper Prairie’s  performance.

“We like to run in windy conditions,” he said. “We try to use it to our advantage.”

His team nudged Washington by only three points to claim the last of three state qualifying team positions.

Despite finishing fourth, the Warriors did place two runners among the top 10 qualifiers. Junior Joe Berry came in fifth, while senior Etienne Nzoyisaba finished a disappointing eighth.

“I was pretty happy overall,” said Berry. “At about the two-mile mark, I was feeling dead. But with about a half-mile to go, I picked it up. And down the backstretch, I kicked it  in and finished strong.”

Nzoyisaba said he didn’t feel right the whole race.

“I felt tired even before it started,” he said. “My legs just felt weird. I tried to stay with Joe (Berry) for the first mile and relaxed a little bit.

“But by the last 800, I just felt  beat.”

CLASS 4A STATE QUALIFIER
At Tuma soccer complex

Girls (4k)

Teams
1. Kennedy 38, 2. Iowa City West 42, 3. Iowa City High 54, 4. Prairie 145, 5. Jefferson 151, 6. Western Dubuque 166, 7. Washington 169, 8. Muscatine 191, 9. Waterloo East 295

Top 10 Individuals
1. Ashlynn Yokom (ICW)     14:33.81
2. Allison Culver (CRK)    15:12.04
3. Ellen Carman (ICH)      15:12.99
4. Katie Wampole (CRK)     15:13.35
5. Shannon Gorman (CRW)    15:18.82
6. Molly Leveille (ICW)    15:19.85
7. Alyssa Averhoff (CRK)   15:24.40
8. Courtney Bruns (ICH)    15:30.93
9. Lindsey Bruns (ICH)     15:36.30
10. Pombie Silverman (ICW) 15:39.12


Kennedy - 2. Allison Culver 15:12.04, 4. Katie Wampole 15:13.35, 7. Alyssa Averhoff 15:24.40, 11. Lauren Meyer 15:46.78, 14. Jessica Rodman 15:58.58, 24. Carolyn Stone 16:33.70, 28. Sarah Manders 16:47.02

Prairie - 19. Katie Costigan 16:19.45, 25. Maddie Rainey 16:39.42, 30. Beth Heims 16:51.23, 34. Amanda Weyer 17:11.89, 37. Sarah Meyers 17:19.22, 42. Anna Rubsam 17:45.10, 44. Holly Wisnousky 17:48.87

Jefferson - 15. Michelle Zikes 15:59.73, 23. Meredith Koenigsfeld 16:31.49, 27. Sarah Hanna 16:40.23, 38. Megan Ely 17:24.17, 48. Cara Voll 18:02.61, 52. Marcie Gaebler 18:37.96, 55. Sarah Fehlberg 19:06.58

Washington - 5. Shannon Gorman 15:18.82, 36. M.Stuckenschneider 17:16.75, 40. MJ Kamin 17:36.47, 43. M.Stuckenschneider 17:46.16, 45. Kristin Mackenburg 17:52.04, 49. Sarah Witt 18:12.92, 50. Megan Miller 18:17.85



Boys (5k)

Teams
1. Iowa City High 35, 2. Iowa City West 55, 3. Prairie 71, 4. Washington 74, 5. Muscatine 149, 6. Kennedy 156, 7. Western Dubuque 211, 8. Jefferson 228, 9. Waterloo East 289

Top 10 Individuals
1. Brook Price (ICH)        15:56.78
2. Mitch Pritts (CRP)       16:03.34
3. Bailey Wetherell (ICW)   16:11.47
4. Chris Ohrt (ICH)         16:15.11
5. Joe Berry (CRW)          16:15.81
6. Isaac Jensen (ICW)       16:16.99
7. Ryan Dorman (ICH)        16:24.23
8. Etienne Nzoyisaba (CRW)  16:31.98
9. Joseph Malanson (ICW)    16:37.55
10. Mohamed Traore (ICH)    16:40.73


Prairie - 2. Mitch Pritts 16:03.34, 14. Zach Waite 17:06.74, 15. Isaiah Vlasek 17:07.16, 19. Luke Galloway 17:16.78, 21. Jacob Moore 17:22.28, 23. Ross Adams 17:24.27, 25. Connor Neuhaus 17:27.01

Washington - 5. Joe Berry 16:15.81, 8. Etienne Nzoyisaba 16:31.98, 16. Trevor Luebe 17:07.69, 18. Matt Wittman 17:09.74, 27. Robbie Gearhart 17:31.78, 32. Jon Rockwell 17:38.72, 41. Finbar Berry 18:03.51

Kennedy - 12. Ryan Walker 17:03.22, 20. Matthew Stevens 17:18.82, 35. Addison Furry 17:48.04, 43. Austin Trotter 18:09.66, 46. Andrew Solsrud 18:20.72, 47. Derek Girling 18:23.08, 48. Reece Linder 18:28.32

Jefferson - 31. Devin Stone 17:36.46, 45. Alec Archer 18:16.26, 49. Lucas Vanous 18:32.26, 51. Jason Chung 18:38.36, 52. Ky Kramer 18:53.84, 53. Maverick Guyer 18:55.94, 54. Zeb Grimm 19:18.17