Wright advances to State Cross Country Meet; team places fifth

(Above) Clear Lake’s Justin Wright earned a trip to the State Cross Country Meet with a seventh place overall finish in a time of 16:38 at the Class 3A State Cross Country Qualifying Meet held in Waverly on Wednesday, Oct. 21.   The boys team placed fifth overall with 128 points. -Photo courtesy of Kristi Nixon, Mid-America Publishing

by Marianne Gasaway

It’s on to State for Clear Lake senior harrier Justin Wright.

Wright finished seventh overall and helped the Lions to a fifth place finish as a team at the Class 3A State Cross Country Qualifying Meet held in Waverly Wednesday, Oct. 21.

The meet may have been the most competitive in Class 3A, with fourth ranked Marion, sixth ranked Decorah, ninth ranked Center Point Urbana, and Waverly Shell Rock in the 13-team field.

“Our goal was to place fifth behind these four teams and increase our point gap on Webster City from the Conference championships,” explained Coach Tyler Havens.  “As a team, we ran our smartest race of the season and we achieved our goals finishing fifth and beating Webster City by 36 points. Our top five guys all had lifetime personal records and really showed up to compete.”

Center-Point-Urbana narrowly captured the team title, squeezing by Marion, 54 to 55 points.  Deborah was third with 63 points and Waverly-Shell Rock had 88, followed by Clear Lake with 128.  The remainder of the field included: Webster City (164), Benton Community (213), Charles City (216), Vinton-Shellsburg (278), South Tama County, Tama (282), Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR (301), Hampton-Dumont-CAL 335), Independence (346).

Wright earned himself a spot at the State Championships with a seventh place finish in 16:38, just two-seconds off the school record currently held by Sam Pedelty at 16:36.

Clear Lake sophomore Leo Tolentino was just two spots shy of qualifying for the state meet, placing 17th with a personal record of 17:10.  That currently ranks him eighth all-time at Clear Lake.

Junior Joe Faber ran a 31-second personal record to place as the Lions’ number three runner.

“Joe ran in the JV races at Newman Catholic and our home meet and worked himself all the way up into our top three,” said Coach Havens.

Sophomore Jack Crane finished as Clear Lake’s number four, running a 20-second personal record.

Sophomore Jaden Wright rounded out the Lions’ scoring.  He also posted a 20-second personal record.

“As a coach, it is so great to see such great races at the end of the season, as that is what we train for,” added the coach.