Berg, Driskill capture Class 1A state XC berths

Nodaway Valley’s Doug Berg was the lone state qualifier of coverage area teams in a Class 1A state qualifying cross country meet on the campus of Adair-Casey/Guthrie Center High School Thursday.

Berg ran to a fifth place finish, completing the 5K course in 17:34.10. He wasn’t entirely pleased with his time or placing, but it accomplished his goal of moving on.

“I’m happy to go, but I didn’t run very well at all,” Berg said. “Right off the start it was not good. We started clear on the outside. I got a bad start from the beginning. I was way, far back. Hopefully I can get top-15 at state.”

Also finishing for the NV boys was junior Malachi Broers in 17th (18:41.20), junior Tyler Cooper in 36th (20:05.00), senior Ben Piearson in 51st (21:20.00) and junior Jack Jensen in 69th (23:14.80).

The NV girls were led by sophomore Jazz Christensen’s 14th place finish, four spots out of qualifying for state. Her time was 22:17.80. Other finishers for the girls were senior Lily Day in 50th (26:22.00), junior Annika Nelson in 52nd (26:47) and senior Hope Kading in 60th (28:26.00).

Wolverine girls coach Brooke Wilson was pleased with the way her girls performed and bonded this season.

“We were really hoping to get Jazz in the top 10, but she still ran really well. She’s got two years to get there. You’ve gotta have the drive, the body type and the lung capacity, and she’s got all of that,” Wilson said. “My seniors were really helpful all season, did great, and Annika did too. She was really helpful. We had a fun year together.”

Orient-Macksburg junior Bridget Bracy placed 24th with a time of 23:36. Coach Dave Hartman said after the race that she picked off a couple of runners in front of her during the last 400 meters to up her placing.

Runners advance out of meets at Corning, Leon

East Union junior Jacob Driskill is heading to the state cross country meet with a time of 18:13.60 that placed him seventh at a meet hosted by Southwest Valley at Lake Icaria.

St. Albert won the boys side of that meet. The Falcons placed all five of their scoring runners in the top 10. Also qualifying as a team was Woodbine. The Tigers had three in the top 5.

No area girls qualified from the SWV meet. Logan-Magnolia had four in the top 7 and Woodbine had two in the top 8 to finish first and second, respectively, in the girls team standings.

State Meet schedule for Friday and Saturday

The Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union are sticking with a two-day format for state cross country, as was started during the pandemic.

Class 1A girls run at 10:30 a.m. Friday, Oct. 28, with the boys running at 11:15 a.m. Class 2A girls and boys run at 2 p.m. and 2:45 p.m., respectively. On Saturday, Oct. 29, Class 3A girls and boys run at 10:30 and 11:15 a.m., respectively, with 4A girls and boys at 2 p.m. and 2:45.