Faught and Wright to compete for Clear Lake

by Marianne Gasaway

A pair of Clear Lake harriers have qualified for the State Cross Country Meet Saturday in Spencer.  The top three teams, Sergeant Bluff-Luton (76 points), Humboldt (79) and MOC-Floyd Valley (103), along with the top 15 individuals, qualified for Saturday’s 12:30 p.m. run.

Sophomore Justin Wright and senior Eric Faught finished 10th and 11th respectively to earn their spots at State.  As a team, the Lions were sixth with 164 points.

“Justin and Eric were in a large group of runners through mile two. After mile two they worked together to put some distance between themselves and the others that were vying for a trip to the state meet,” said Coach Nick DiMarco.

This is the second time Wright, a sophomore, has qualified for State.  He finished 10th in a time of 17:17.11. Close behind was Faught, finishing 11th in 17:21.24, good enough to round out his senior season with his fourth trip to State.

Senior Ben Stroup finished third for the team, placing 43rd in a time of 18:31.44.  Following Stroup was sophomore Austin Warnke, taking 48th in 18:41.62.  Senior Lewis Callaway was 52nd in 18:46.93, and finishing 54th and 55th was senior Noan Colby and freshman Tanner Reimann, with times of 18:58.55 and 19:03.78 respectively.

Thirteen teams also ran the girls race, where Clear Lake finished 10th with 270 points. Ballard took first place with 44 points.  Bishop Heelan was second with 59 and Spencer was third with 86.

Seniors Alena Gabrielson and Bailey Larsen pushed each other to finish 40th and 41st respectively in 22:23.69 and 22:24.57.  Following the leaders were senior Katelyn Moore, 55th, 23:33.74; sophomore Jillian Enke, 56th, 23:35. 80; senior Mallory Leisure, 78th, 26:49.80; junior Jessica Theobald, 82nd,28:03.52; and junior Taylor Krul, 85th, 29:25.88.

Reflecting on the season Coach DiMarco says, “I couldn’t be prouder of the effort that both teams gave at this meet. Our girls and boys teams improved so much this season. The seniors were great role models for the younger runners.”