Comets look to break away from the pack at state XC meet

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — Sometimes experience can slow you down … or at least make you hesitant in your steps.

“When you’re young and just starting in cross country, you may go out there and just run, not thinking about anything else,” Charles City girls cross country coach Amanda Rahmiller said. “But sometimes when they get older, they start over-analyzing things … thinking about injuries. Wondering if they should push themselves through any pain they may be having.”

But when it comes to the Iowa State Cross Country Meet, which will be held this Saturday at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, experience is at a premium.

“For someone who has never been there before, it can be overwhelming and intimidating,” Rahmiller said. “It’s usually the biggest meet they’ve ever participated in their lives at that time. And when they see all the spectators in attendance, they suddenly get wide-eyed.”

Charles City senior Sarah Turpen remembers her first state cross country meet when she was a freshman part of the Comets’ 2013 varsity squad, which placed sixth — the best-ever finish for CC’s girls program.

“I may have been a little intimidated, but not that much,” Turpen said. “I think I may have been more excited than anything else.”

According to Rahmiller, one of the highlights of last week’s state qualifier in Decorah was Turpen finishing 15th for that final individual qualifying spot.

Of course the main highlight for the Comets was claiming the state qualifier title while besting Wahlert Catholic and runner-up host Decorah, who were ranked 1-2, respectively, in the state at Class 3A.

“Getting on the balcony at the end, that would be great,” Rahmiller said of the possibility of a top-three trophy finish. “As a coach watching the race, it’s sometimes hard to predict how well you’re doing as a team. There are going to be a lot of runners competing as individuals whose placings don’t count in team scoring. So you may have a girl who’s in 40th place end up scoring 15 to 20 places better for team standings.

Last year, then junior McKayla Cole placed third as an individual for Charles City — the highest state finish ever for a Comet girl.

“This year, she’ll be facing the best competition we’ve ever seen at state,” Rahmiller said. “Hopefully, she and Whitney (Martin) will both come home with individual medals.”

At the state qualifier, Cole placed fourth and sophomore Martin placed seventh.

One of the biggest challenges running at state is that, because it features the topnotch runners in the state, the field can get crowded in the middle.

“A lot of times runners will find themselves trapped in the pack,” Rahmiller said. “You’ll have your leaders in the front and some stragglers in back, but with so many runners who ran equal times to make it to state, you get a bigger mass of them on the course.”

“The density of runners around you is much greater at state,” Turpen said. “With the experience of knowing that from my last race, I’m going to try to get out much faster.”

For the 12th time in last 13 state meets, the Charles City boys program will be represented. This year, the lone Comet representative is junior Gavin Connell, who qualified for his third-straight state meet after finishing fifth at the Decorah qualifier.

“I was hoping I could have someone else down there so I wouldn’t be running alone,” Connell said. “But I know a lot of our guys are going to be down there cheering me on, and I’m going to be cheering the girls on. So I’m not all by myself.”

Connell also wasn’t all by himself while training this week. Several of his teammates accompanied him during his road and track work regimens, and even helped simulate pack-running scenarios.

“We had two guys run close on one side of him and two others on the other side,” Charles City boys coach Ryan Rahmiller said. “I mean their season is over … they didn’t have to come out here. But Gavin is representing our team, and this is a team sport.”

Though the state meet concludes the high school season, the Comet girls team is not due to bring things to a halt just yet.

On Nov. 5, four of the team’s seniors — Cole, Turpen, Alysha Bilharz and Bailey Mitchell — will represent the Iowa East squad against Iowa West at the Iowa All-Star Cross Country Meet to be held at Des Moines Area Community College.

“You have to be nominated and to have run a (5K) time of 21:30 or lower,” Amanda Rahmiller said.

The following week (Nov. 12), much of the team will compete at the Nike Cross Country Heartland Regional at Sioux Falls.

“It’s not a high school-sanctioned meet, so they can’t even call themselves the Charles City Comets,” Amanda Rahmiller said of the team. “I can’t even coach them because the season will be over by then.

“Top teams from there advance to the Heartland Nationals. That may not happen for them, but it should be a fun experience.”