Glandon makes State second year in row

It shouldn’t come as much of a surprise to see Jacob Glandon record another top 10 finish in a cross country meet, leading the English Valleys boys’ team all season long. This wasn’t just another meet though, it was a top finish at the State Qualifying meet on October 18, advancing him to the State meet later this week.

Glandon came in with a goal of making it to the State meet, needing to place within the top 15 individuals to do so. It wasn’t going to be easy, facing the toughest runners in the region, but his years of experience and endurance paid off. Glandon cruised his way through to finish in 10th place, clocking in at 17:59.73, reaching the State meet for the second year in a row.

The next boy to finish was Bryson Grove, who’s put together a solid season for himself as well in his first year of varsity competition. Grove finished in 39th place after running a time of 19:36.59 and will be the top returning Bear next year after Glandon graduates. Luis Gonzales and Baylor Wiseman also competed for English Valleys. Gonzales finished in 94th place, running a time of 21:23.66 and Wiseman rounded out the team in 132nd place, clocking in at 25:40.96.

The girls’ team also had five competitors at the meet, led by Carly Stannerson who narrowly found herself out the cut in making it to State. Stannerson has been a big addition to the Lady Bears’ XC squad, finishing out her first year with an 18th place finish, running a time of 22:38.29. Another young runner, Madison Koehn, also finished in the top 40. Koehn finished out her first State Qualifying meet in 36th place after running a time of 24:02.22.

Other Lady Bears to run included Megan Glandon (25:18.37) who finished in 54th, Clara Mews (25:29.49) who finished 58th and Nevaeh Briggs (29:01.67) who finished in 93rd place.

Out of the 14 scored teams at the meet, the Lady bears finished with 254 points, holding off Montezuma to take eighth place.

The State cross country meet will take place on October 27 up in Fort Dodge at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.