LaCoste surges to second-place at state meet

Rockford junior only wanted to place in Top 15; ends up 2 seconds short of leader

By John Burbridge

sports@charlescitypress.com

FORT DODGE — Aim for the stars and you might hit the moon.

Rockford junior Sheridan LaCoste was aiming just to finish in the top 15 in the Class 1A girls division at the Iowa Cross Country State Championships Saturday.

She ended up 2 seconds away from winning a state championship.

“I thought if I had another 100 yards, I could have caught her,” LaCoste said giving chase to Kate Crawford of Acgc down the homestretch.

Crawford held off the challenge to win with a time of 19 minutes, 38.7 seconds. LaCoste ran a personal-best 19:41 for second.

About a mile into the race Crawford, LaCoste and Edgewood-Colesburg’s Hanna Hess broke away from the pack to make it a three-woman race. Crawford was able to build a 25-yard advantage over the other two runners by the 2-mile mark as Hess took over the second-place spot.

While ascending up a stretch of challenging grade before the course’s final turn leading a downhill trek to the finish, LaCoste made her move and passed Hess at the turn.

Then LaCoste provoked the crowd of spectators lining both sides of the 300-yard yard homestretch to get as loud as they’ve been all day as she closed the gap on Crawford.

“It was the crowd cheering that really got me going,” LaCoste said.

This was LaCoste’s second state championship.

“My legs cramped up last year and I didn’t have a very good race,” she said. “I was hoping to do better this year, but I didn’t want to set a goal to win the race because if I didn’t — like today — I would have been disappointed.

“Instead, I’m happy I was able to do so well.”

A state-qualifying distance runner in track, LaCoste plans to do CrossFit training during the fall and winter months as well as being a Rockford cheerleader.

“Sheridan had the best race of her life today,” Rockford coach Andy Roth said. “She has been ready for this race since the beginning of the season.

“It was amazing seeing her in the top three after the first mile.”

LaCoste was the lone state qualifier from Rockford.

“Sheridan had a lot of support on the course with family and students from Rockford,” Roth said. “It’s great when you see so many people out to support what you love to do.”

Elkader Central was the Class 1A girls champ with 69 team points. Hudson was runner-up with 116 team points.

Five of the Top 10 runners competed as individuals in the girls Class 1A race.