Seven Cyclones qualify for cross country state meet
HCHS Cyclone cross country runners Brylee Schechinger, Sadie Alberti, Allie Anderson, Ashlyn Rau, Ava Freund, Aspen Bieker, and Lindsey Sonderman have all qualified as a team for the state meet set to take place in Fort Dodge next Friday Nov. 1.
“Everybody wants to finish their year at Fort Dodge and it’s a special place to run,” said Cyclone Head Coach Zach Klaassen. “To compete against the best runners in the state of Iowa is pretty awesome, and to put yourself in that group is pretty awesome as well. We’ll celebrate and be happy with this.”
Sonderman and Rau both qualified as individuals with Sonderman winning the event with 18:10.50, beating out Glenwood Sophomore Grace Berglund, who finished with a time of 18:17.48, and Rau taking fourth place with a time of 19:11.19.
“I knew it was going to be a fast race, but I wasn’t expecting it to be this fast,” Sonderman said. “Right out of the chute, there were so many girls sprinting, so that really tested my limits today.”
Sonderman talked about the familiarity of running at the Harlan Golf & Country Club and how that helped her.
“I think it definitely helped just knowing the course and seeing all of the familiar faces,” she said. “We had a lot of people come out and support us, and that really helps us tremendously.”
Rau was excited she qualified as an individual for her first season of high school cross country.
“It feels amazing,” Rau said. “It’s really hard to be a freshman and make it to state, so I’m really happy I could pull it off, and I’m really excited to go. I felt good today. I just feel like I did an amazing today, and I’m really proud with how I did overall.”
The Cyclone boys didn’t qualify, however the fastest runner was Sophomore Erik Heslink, who finished 16th overall with a time of 17:17.27, just barely over a minute behind the winner, Junior Cadel Conner of Grinnell with 16:14.07.
“He put himself in a position early to qualify as an individual,” Klaassen said of Heslink. “He was in that top 10 for most of the race. The last five runners came in and he just happened to be number six. He got caught right at the tape, but he PR’d today and that’s the fastest race he’s ever ran and he’s got a lot to be proud of.”
The state meet will take place in Fort Dodge Nov. 1. With it being her final state meet of her high school cross country meet, Sonderman hopes to enjoy the experience for one final time.
“I’m very excited for Fort Dodge,” Sonderman said. “It’s always a crazy, fun race there. I just want to see what I can in my last state meet. It’s definitely going to be a special race.”
