Bieker earns seventh-place state meet medal

 FORT DODGE (Oct. 29) -- The voice wasn’t a familiar one, but the words struck a chord with Harlan Community senior Kaia Bieker. During the final mile of her high school cross country career Friday afternoon, Bieker was searching for the endurance to hold her top-10 position in the Class 3A girls state meet at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course. “I heard someone say, ‘Hey, you’ve got to keep working for the girls in front of you. Don’t be happy with where you are because they can slip past you so easily,’” Bieker recalled. “And when I heard that - which was supposed to be for the girl in front of me - I thought, ‘You know what, that’s a good point.’ I just decided... ‘I’m going to go for that pack in front of me because I don’t want to chance it at all.’ So I went for them and that ended up being a really good decision.” Bieker’s strong push to the finish line earned her a seventh-place 3A medal (out of 133 runners) and led the Harlan Community girls to a seventh-place team finish (out of 15) at the 2021 State Cross Country Championships near Fort Dodge. Bieker, who entered the day ranked eighth, became the Cyclone girls’ top state medalist since Regina Reinig placed fourth in 2006. Reinig was also a state champion in 2005 and placed seventh in 2004. Bieker’s steady and impressive climb has taken her from 75th as a freshman to 47th as a sophomore, 31st as a junior and now seventh. “It was the most amazing feeling in the world,” she said of crossing the finish line. “I always like the sprinting at the end, so I was happy to go through as hard as I could... Having the team around me, having the coaches that I’ve had for the past four years, the program, the support... has just meant the world to me." Top-ranked Solon won the 3A girls team title with a score of 77, followed by Ballard (103) and Dallas Center-Grimes (127). HCHS, which entered the state meet ranked sixth by the IATC, scored a 212 for seventh - just 13 points away from the top five. Kaia Bieker’s five-kilometer time of 19:29 was 39 seconds faster than a year ago at state. Cyclone freshman Lindsey Sonderman, ranked No. 2 in 3A, ran right with Bieker for most of the race before finishing 16th in 19:41 - missing a top-15 medal by five seconds as the capper to an incredible season. HCHS senior Ellie Gross placed 71st in 20:53, improving on her 2020 state finish by 39 places and 71 seconds. Additional Cyclone results included sophomore Taylor Bieker in 97th, junior Jenna Gessert (107th), freshman Kayla Anderson (116th) and sophomore Emily Schechinger (126th). HCHS head coach Doug Renkly, who is retiring from the job after 25 successful seasons, was pleased with the team’s overall effort and performance. “We came here and we did what we do,” he said. “Kaia just had a tremendous day. She proved at the state track meet this spring that she has another level that she can rise up to, and she did that again today. Lindsey did not have a bad race; Kaia just had a better race." Immediately following the meet, Renkly said that he hadn’t spent much time reflecting back on his 25 years as the Cyclones’ head coach. It’s a career that has included 18 team qualifiers for the state meet and a number of individual qualifiers as well. The HCHS girls have advanced to state the last four years and 15 of the last 18 since 2004, winning a state championship in 2005 and finishing as 3A runner-up in 2006.
Full story in Nov. 2 Harlan Tribune
2021 State Cross Country Championships • October 29-30 • Fort Dodge
Class 3A Girls Results Team Standings: 1. Solon 77, 2. Ballard 103, 3. Dallas Center-Grimes 127, 4. Western Dubuque 165, 5. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 199, 6. Carlisle 205, 7. Harlan Community 212, 8. MOC-Floyd Valley 221, 9. North Polk 222, 10. Spencer 232, 11. Glenwood 239, 12. Center Point-Urbana 242, 13. Gilbert 249, 14. Wahlert Catholic 265, 15. Marion 267. Top 3 Medalists: 1. Paityn Noe (Ballard), jr., 18:12; 2. Geneva Timmerman (ADM), jr., 19:06; 3. Ainsley Erzen (Carlisle), sr., 19:13. Also: 7. Kaia Bieker (HCHS), sr., 19:29. HCHS Results - 7th: Kaia Bieker (sr.), 19:29.18; 16th: Lindsey Sonderman (fr.), 19:41.95; 71st: Ellie Gross (sr.), 20:53.92; 97th: Taylor Bieker (so.), 21:23.31; 107th: Jenna Gessert (jr.), 21:57.63; 116th: Kayla Anderson (fr.), 22:28.65; 126th: Emily Schechinger (so.), 23:01.76. (133 runners)