2A state cross country: D-NH's Kvale achieves medal dream

Published by admin on Fri, 09/13/2019 - 8:42am

By:

Jake Ryder

FORT DODGE – Taylor Kvale took advantage of the first opportunity she got to fulfill a long-held dream.

The Dike-New Hartford freshman placed 13th overall in the Class 2A girls race at the state cross country meet at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge on Saturday.

As a result, she joined the rest of the top-15 finishers on the clubhouse deck as individual state medalists.

"I've had this dream of being on the deck for so long," Kvale said, "and I'm glad it's here."

Kvale completed the course in 20:02, the lead runner for the Wolverines team that finished 12th in the 2A standings with 246 team points.

Alexis Jensen scored 49th-place team points for D-NH in 22:09, Kaity Houts 56th in 22:17, Rachel Wardell 62nd in 22:31 and Zoie Callan rounding out the team scoring with a 70th-place run in 22:48. Sierra Loger and Jadyn Bennett were 94th and 98th, respectively.

The Wolverines finished just eight points behind Waukon in 11th. Mid-Prairie defended its team title with an 89 score.

Also making her state meet debut was Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck freshman Taylor Stahl, running 24th overall in 20:39 as an individual qualifier. She had the fourth best time of the freshmen running at Fort Dodge, missing the top-15 medalist cutoff by 16 seconds.

GC/G-R BOYS 12TH IN 2A: Derek Ciddio's 36th-place overall finish led Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck to a 12th-place team finish at Fort Dodge.

Ciddio finished in a time of 17:39, earning 24th-place team points for GC/G-R. Paul Brockett was 26th in 17:41; Kenny Day placed 47th in 18:13; Sam Schildroth was 79th in 18:58 and Soren Cleveland ran 82nd in 19:01. Seniors Marshall Day and Brady Appel were 103rd and 104th, respectively.

In his senior season, Ciddio shaved 40 seconds off his time at state as a junior, where he finished 90th overall.

"I wanted to start out fast and get ahead of the pack," Ciddio said. "It was a lot warmer for sure, perfect weather for running and I feel like I'm in better shape [than last year] and more prepared being down here already."

Dike-New Hartford's Sawyer Loger was 79th overall in 18:21 as an individual qualifier for the Wolverines.

"I feel really good for how far I've improved from freshman year to here," Loger said. "If I had gone back in time to tell myself as a freshman that I'd be running low 18s, high 17s, I wouldn't believe it. But I've definitely enjoyed the progress I've made."