Baker sisters headed to state

ATLANTIC — As anticipated, the Creston sister combination of junior Brielle Baker and freshman Braelyn qualified for the State Cross Country Meet in Thursday’s qualifying meet.

But, there was a different twist to it.

For the first time, Braelyn finished ahead of her older sister with a solid eighth-place finish in 20:36.49. Brielle was 10 seconds back in 11th place in 20:46.75. The top 15 advance to the girls state meet at noon Oct. 28 at Lakeside Golf Course north of Fort Dodge.

Baker was 17 seconds ahead of the first non-qualifier individually, 16th place Morgan Goslar of third-place team qualifier Denison-Schleswig. But, she did so through some adversity along the way.

This is how it was described by Braelyn as she came up on Brielle and passed her with about a mile to go.

“When Brielle was slowing down, I tried to pass her,” Braelyn related. “I heard her say ‘Ow’ and stuff. She was hurting. I just turned back and said, ‘Let’s go Brielle!’ I really wouldn’t want to be at state without her. It worked out.”

Brielle said after the race that in climbing one of the many hills on the south side of the Atlantic Golf and Country Club course, she felt a twinge in a quadricep muscle. She momentarily stopped and walked, but resumed in time to maintain a position near the top 10.

It was a make or break time for Brielle. If she slowed too much, she would be passed by too many approaching runners to make a repeat trip to state.

“On one of the hills my quad started really hurting,” Brielle said. “But I just wanted to finish the race strong. It hurt a little bit before (in practice) but I didn’t think much of it. I just wanted to try to keep Braelyn in my view. I didn’t want her to get too far ahead of me. And I didn’t want to get passed at the last minute, so I knew I needed to stay up there.”

Coach Pat Schlapia said he was unaware of Brielle’s injury situation and was proud she could grind through it only a few seconds slower than when she qualified on the same course a year ago.

“She had the guts to hang right in there,” Schlapia said. “That was awesome for her with the quad problem to maintain like she did. She was ninth here a year ago, so she was not far off of that. We’ll have Chris Leonard, our trainer, work with her during the week to get ready for state.”

“I’ll be fine,” Brielle said.

Braelyn Baker is just the third freshman girl in Creston cross country history to qualify for state as an individual. The others were Emily Wignall in 2009 and Maria Mostek in 2011. Both went on to become members of the Northwest Missouri State University track and cross country teams.

“For the first two miles of the race, things went pretty much like it has been and like we expected,” Schlapia said. “There’s been good family competition throughout the season there, pushing each other. But then Braelyn had to make a decision when Brielle slowed down a little. She decided, ‘Here’s my time,’ and she went with it. She did a great job of running that good pace to get into eighth place with that. That’s pretty special to be only the third girl to do it as a freshman.”

Two-timer

Brielle Baker is the 10th Creston runner (sixth girl) to become at least a two-time state qualifier, joining Mostek, Donna Dickinson, Beth Finn, Karla Fisher and Wignall from the girls teams. Mostek was the program’s only four-time state qualifier.

This is the fourth time in program history Creston has sent three runners to state as individual qualifiers, with the addition of freshman Clayton Stafford in the boys race (see related story). The other times were Cooper McDermott, Ben Irr and Jessica Beatty in 2015, and the combination of McDermott, Jay Wolfe and Mostek in both 2014 and 2013.

Two other Creston girls finished in the top half of the field of 88 runners, and both are freshmen. Morgan Buxton was 35th in 22:38.46 and Ali Christensen was 43rd in 23:32.96.

Christensen and sophomore Sydney Hartsock were making their varsity debuts in Thursday’s meet. Sophomore Allivea Skarda was 53rd, Hartsock was close behind in 55th and sophomore Brittany Linch was 59th.

Team race

As a team Creston placed sixth with 150 points, closing the gap from the conference meet on fourth place Atlantic (118) and Harlan in fifth (121).

State qualifying teams were fifth-ranked Ballard (65), 11th-ranked Glenwood (78) and No. 14 Denison-Schleswig (106).

“We thought our girls could come in and run well and finish anywhere from third to seventh,” Schlapia said. “They performed well in getting sixth, and now we look to make that move up. We watched those three qualifying teams receive their state banners, and we want to become one of those next year. That was a good learning experience for us today.”

The individual winner was 12th-ranked Denison-Schleswig junior Raegan Andersen, who ran ahead of two girls ranked in front of her in No. 5 Megan Sievers of Carlisle in second place and No. 11 Ellie Twedt of Ballard in third place. Andersen finished in 19:41.92.

A second Denison-Schleswig girl, Ellie Mendlik, passed conference rival Taylor McCreedy of Atlantic for fourth place.

Girls team scoring (top 3 to state) — 1. Ballard 65; 2. Glenwood 78; 3. Denison-Schleswig 106; 4. Atlantic 118; 5. Harlan 121; 6. Creston 150; 7. Adel-DeSoto-Minburn 181; 8. Winterset 221; 9. Carlisle 268; 10. Bondurant-Farrar 290; 11. Kuemper Catholic 307; 12. Perry 317; 13. Boone 328.

Individual state qualifiers —1. Raegan Andersen, D-S, 19:41.92; 2. Megan Sievers, Carl, 20:01.15; 3. Ellie Twedt, Bal, 20:09.28; 4. Ellie Mendlik, D-S, 20:19.08; 5. Taylor McCreedy, Atl, 20:23.09; 6. Sadie Juergens, ADM, 20:25.28; 7. Lauren Matthews, Bal, 20:34.09; 8. Braelyn Baker, Crest, 20:36.49; 9. Greichaly Kaster, Harl, 20:39.46; 10. Caitlin Maher, Bal, 20:41.27; 11. Brielle Baker, Crest, 20:46.75; 12. Lacey Jackson, Glen, 20:49.34; 13. Brecken Van Balle, Harl, 20:49.68; 14. Kate Kaufman, Glen, 20:53.55; 15. Katelyn Malcom, Glen, 21:02.68.

Creston (150) — 8. Braelyn Baker, 20:36.49; 11. Brielle Baker, 20:46.75; 35. Morgan Buxton, 22:38.46; 43. Ali Christensen, 23:32.96; 53. Allivea Skarda, 24:16.96; 55. Sydney Hartsock, 24:22.90; 59. Brittany Linch, 24:57.59.