Run like the Winded

Charles City’s McKayla Cole wins Rich Engel Classic varsity girls race; rest of the team makes it home safely after harrowing trip back through storm

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CEDAR FALLS — Say this about Charles City senior McKayla Cole — she doesn’t leave much left of herself on the course.

In the girls varsity 5K race at the Rich Engel Classic Cross Country Invitational at Birdsall Park, Cole paced the field with a time of 19 minutes, 37 seconds, nearly 10 seconds ahead of Cedar Rapids Washington sophomore sensation Reagan Gorman. Still, Cole approached the finish line like someone was nipping at her pony-tail.

And, as usual after her races, Cole needed to be helped to her feet due to being completely spent from exhaustion.

“I just try to push myself no matter who is behind me,” Cole said. “Sometimes I look back to see who’s behind me, but I want to finish strong no matter what.”

Last year, Cole placed third at the highly competitive Engel Classic; the year before that, she placed seventh.

She didn’t run cross country as a freshman.

“This is far from my fastest time,” said Cole, who clocked in a 5K time nearly a minute faster at the Charles City Invitational to open the season two weeks ago at Wildwood Municipal Golf Course.

“This is a tough course, and it’s repetitive,” Cole said. “Last year, it was three loops around. This year, they changed it to two.

“In cross country, I don’t like seeing the same thing more than once while I’m running.”

In team placing, Cedar Falls won the girls varsity ahead of runner-up Dubuque Hempstead and third-place finisher Dubuque Senior.

“This is a big-school 4A class meet, so we really don’t worry about team scores,” Cole said. “We know coming in here we’re going to get our butts kicked, but sometimes we need to get them kicked to motivate us.”

Charles City girls coach Amanda Rahmiller agrees, but phrases it a little differently.

“It’s good to be thrown to the dogs every once in awhile,” she said. “Out of the 3A schools there, we did well … finished third behind Decorah and Wahlert.

“Mackenzie Bilharz ran her first varsity race as a freshman, and she held up well. In the junior varsity race, Gillian King placed 19th, which is huge in a big meet like this.”

Cedar Falls also won the boys varsity race ahead of runner-up Cedar Rapids Washington and third-place finisher Ankeny.

Charles City junior Gavin Connell placed 35th to lead the Comets.

“Gavin had been ill this week … there’s been some sickness with the team,” Charles City boys coach Ryan Rahmiller said. “We’re a young team and every meet is a learning experience for us.”

Ryan Rahmiller said that senior Adam Stewart and sophomore Mason Deeter ran well, but …

“They got caught in the pack and had a hard time breaking free.”

One thing both Comet teams should be thankful for is that they made it home without incident. A major storm with high-gusting winds and torrential and treacherous rain fall plagued drivers returning home from the meet.

“Our two bus drivers did a phenomenal job getting us back,” Ryan Rahmiller said.