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Comets Vais, Graeser and Williams individual qualifiers for State XC Meet

Comets Vais, Graeser and Williams individual qualifiers for State XC Meet
Press photo by John Burbridge
Charles City senior Jacob Vais is flanked by Comet freshmen Xander Graeser (left) and Nick Williams, all of whom qualified for the State XC Meet as individuals while helping the Comet boys qualify as a team.

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

DECORAH — Lydia Staudt has been here before.

The Comet boys team hasn’t — or at least not for a while.

But next Friday (Oct. 29), they’ll all be at the same place — Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge for the Cross Country State Championships.

Charles City senior Staudt managed to outrace two determined runners from Western Dubuque for the final 15th qualifying placing in the Girls Varsity race during Wednesday’s Class 3A Cross Country State Qualifying Meet at Oneota Golf and Country Club.

It was the third time in Staudt’s XC career that she has earned an individual state meet berth.

As for the Charles City boys … they haven’t had a state qualifier for the past two years. But with individual senior qualifier Jacob Vais accompanied by individual freshmen qualifiers Xander Graeser and Nick Williams, the Comets made the cut as a team — the first time since 2014 — by way of placing third behind champion Western Dubuque and runner-up Decorah.

“I knew going in we were either going to get third or fourth,” Comet boys head coach Ryan Rahmiller said.

According to the latest rankings posted by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches, four teams in the  Class 3A boys qualifier were ranked in the Top 20 — Western Dubuque (8th), Waverly-Shell Rock (10th), Decorah (13th) and Charles City (20th).

Though the rankings may have suggested the Comets would be the tough-luck fourth-place finisher, they managed to best Northeast Iowa Conference champions Waverly-Shell Rock by 10 points (82-92) for one of the coveted Top 3 team qualifier spots.

Staudt may have set the tone in the Girls Varsity race before.

“I knew we were going for the 15th spot,” Staudt said of battling with Bobcats Audrey Biermann and Leah Digmann, who were ahead of her for most of the race.

Though the course plotted out at Oneota is generally flat, it does have a crucible-like uphill grade as part of the homestretch — a common staple at most XC state qualifiers. But — as referenced before — Staudt has been here before as she has attacked homestretch hills at qualifiers in Manchester and Independence while moving ahead of opponents and advancing to state her freshman and sophomore years.

“I could see them on both sides of me with my peripheral vision,” Staudt said of her mad dash to state. “Then I didn’t see them anymore. I thought I didn’t have to worry about them, so I let up a little. But then I saw that (Biermann) was right on me again, so I pushed myself some more all the way to the end.”

With a 5K time of 20 minutes, 48.40 seconds, Staudt finished .40 ahead of Biermann.

Plagued with health ailments her junior season, Staudt was unable to qualify as an individual last season.

Health ailments have also hampered the career of Vais. But now healthy and determined to make up for lost time, Vais qualified for state for the first time with a 10th-place time of 17:43.30.

As one of the upper class leaders of a young team with a lot of upside, Vais’s only advice to his teammates who will continue after his graduation is “Never give up.”

And, perhaps, change strategy whenever needed.

Last week along the same course for the NEIC meet, Graeser boldly challenged some of the conference’s accomplished runners for the lead at the start only to fall back out of all-conference standing midway through the race.

“This time, I decided to stay back more and then make my move to pick more guys off at the end,” said Graeser, who placed 13th with a time of 17:53.30. “It’s been an up and down season for me, but I’m learning.”

Williams got the final 15th qualifying spot with a time of 17:55.80. Upon learning he was an individual qualifier, Williams was overcome with emotion.

During Rahmiller’s 18 years as the Comet boys coach, there have only been four freshman individual qualifiers from Charles City: Iowa Track and Field Hall of Famer Isaac Wendland, Gavin Connell, and Graeser and Williams.

Though it helps to have three individual qualifiers, Rahmiller pointed out on the final scoresheet that it was a cluster of latter Comet finishers that enabled them to get down as a team.

They included sophomore Isaac Thompson (19th, 18:12.50); senior Malcolm Lopez, who recovered from an allergic reaction sustained during the NEIC meet to cap the fifth scoring spot with a 25th-place time of 18:20.90; senior Clayton Rand (32nd, 18:38.90) and senior Jared Johnson (45th, 18:55.40).

In the girls race, Charles City placed 10th with 262 team points. Western Dubuque (54), Wahlert Catholic (82) and Center Point-Urbana (107) advanced as teams.

For the Charles City girls, Staudt was their best chance for representation at state.

“You could say it was the best-case scenario for us,” Charles City girls coach Amanda Rahmiller said. “Lydia was in 17th place with a mile left in the race, and she did what she needed to do.”

Winning the Boys Varsity race was Western Dubuque junior Eli Naumann with a time of 15:58.10. By the half-way mark it was a two-man race for the top spot as Naumann, who placed fourth at last year’s state meet, was able to hold off runner-up Eli Larson (16:02.40) of Center Point-Urbana.

Alysaa Klein of Western Dubuque won the Girls Varsity race with a time of 19:29.70. Klein was trailing Kora Katcher of Center Point-Urbana for most of the race, but just ahead of the finish line, Katcher collapsed before managing to crawl on her hands and knees to complete the race and salvage an eighth-place qualifying finish.

Next Friday at Fort Dodge, the Girls 3A race will start at 2:30 p.m.; the Boys 3A race will start at 3:15 p.m.

Class 3A Cross Country State Qualifying Meet

Oct. 20

AT ONEOTA GOLF AND COUNTRY CLUB

Girls Varsity 5K

Team Results

(Top 3 Qualify)

1. Western Dubuque 54, 2. Wahlert Catholic 82, 3. Center Point-Urbana 107, 4. Waverly-Shell Rock 115, 5. Crestwood 120, 6. Decorah 123, 7. Iowa Falls-Alden 204, 8. West Delaware 221, 9. Hampton-Dumont 255, 10. Charles City (Lydia Staudt 15th 20:48.40; Lauren Staudt 39th 22:25.30; Natalie White 64th 24:10.70; Claire Eckenrod 24:14.70; Cloey Usher 78th 25:58.40) 262, 11. Vinton-Shellsburg 311, 12. Cedar Rapids Xavier 326, 13. Independence 332.

Individual Qualifiers

1. Alyssa Klein (WD) 19:29.70, 2. Lilly Boge (WD) 19:42.90, 3. Ellie Meyer (WC) 19:53.10, 4. Teah Miller (IFA) 20:02.40, 5. Abby Harding (IFA) 20:02.90, 6. Kinze Shea (C) 20:07.00, 7. Lydia Mass (HD) 20:08.90. 8. Kora Katcher (CPU) 20:20.60, 9. Ellie Kirby (WC) 20:29.40, 10. Sydney Bochmann (WSR) 20;35.70, 11. Liliah Takes (WC) 20:36.40, 12. Rebecca Anderson (D) 20:37.30, 13. Emma Wilkerson (CPU) 20:37.80, 14. Kendel Slavin (C) 20:37.80, 15. Lydia Staudt (CC) 20:48.40.

Boys Varsity 5K

Team Results

(Top 3 Qualify)

1. Western Dubuque 47, 2. Decorah 71, 3. Charles City (Jacob Vais 10th 17:43.30; Xander Graeser 13th 17:53.30; Nick Williams 15th 17:55.80; Isaac Thompson 19th 18:12.50; Malcolm Lopez 25th 18:20.90; Clayton Rand 32nd 18:38.90; Jared Johnson 45th 18:55.40) 82, 4. Waverly-Shell Rock 92, 5. Center Point-Urbana 163, 6. West Delaware 169, 7. Cedar Rapids Xavier 172, 8. Crestwood 232, 9. Wahlert Catholic 235, 10. Vinton-Shellsburg 257, 11. Iowa Falls-Alden 274, 12. Hampton-Dumont 290, 13. Independence 360.

Individual Qualifiers

1. Eli Naumann (WD) 15:58.10, 2. Eli Larson (CPU) 16:02.40, 3. Carter Hancock (WC) 17:03.60, 4. Isaiah Hammerand (WD) 17:10.70, 5. Nick Kepford (WSR) 17:16.80, 6. Arlo Hayes (D) 17:17.90, 7. Brenden Begle (WD) 17:34.50, 8. Andrew Cummer (WSR) 17:39.90, 9. Randall Kinner (CRX) 17:40.80, 10. Jacob Vais (CC) 17:43.30, 11. Larson Shockey (D) 17:47.90, 12. Drew Meyer (WD) 17:51.70, 13. Xander Graeser (CC) 17:53.30, 14. Caleb Hoins (WSR) 17:54.30, 15. Nick Williams (CC) 17:55.80

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