English Valleys girls finish fifth in 1A meet

FORT DODGE – Once again their ability to stay close together proved to be an advantage.

Throughout the running of the class 1A State cross country meet held Nov. 2 at the Lakeside Municipal golf course in Fort Dodge, the seven English Valleys girls never seemed to be too far apart. That pace helped the Bears run their way to a fifth place finish overall in the meet. 

The Bears scored 175 total points in the meet to finish fifth overall. Earlham was named the class 1A State champion with 91 total points. Last year’s champion, Madrid, finished second with 109 total points. Treynor was fourth with 172 points. South Winneshiek was fourth with 173 points. 

Leading the pack of girls was freshman Anna Luers who pulled away from the pack early on and would finish 48th overall with a time of 20:38.1. Luers ran a quick pace throughout the race. Her first mile took her just six minutes and five seconds to run. She finished the next mile in after six minutes and 41 seconds. The last mile and more of the race was completed in seven minutes and 51 seconds. 

Sophomore Addison Achenbach was able to finish 70th overall with a time of 21:12.4. Achenbach’s first mile took her 6:34 to complete. Her second mile was paced at seven minutes, and the third portion of the race was completed in 7:37.4. 

Aubrey Achenbach paced her way to a 76th place finish. She crossed the finish line with a time of 21:24.0. 

Kailor Lown was two spots behind Aubrey with a 78th place finish with an overall time of 21:28.5. 

In 83rd was Kaylynn Caster who was able to run a time of 21:39.2. Both Lown and Caster ran their first miles in just over 6:34.1. The two runners averaged about seven minutes and four seconds for their second miles and their third miles took just under eight minutes to complete. 

Kaylee Frazier, a junior, for the Bears finished 119th overall with a time of 22:53.1. Emily Sieren would finish 154th overall in the race with a time of 29:25.8.