The Southeast Valley cross country teams headed to Eagle Grove on Thursday, October 23^rd for their state qualifying meet in hopes of extending the season by a week and qualifying for the state meet. Needing to finish in the top 15 individually to go to state, senior Lincoln Akins ran a career best time of 17:48 to finish 13^th overall to qualify for the state meet this coming Friday at Lakeside Golf course in Fort Dodge.

              Owen Nuss was the second Jaguar to cross the finish line running 18:26 to finish 31^st and August Akins followed in 19:14 to finish 44^th. Senior Drew Dorsey also ran a career best of 19:34 to finish 51^st. Carver Peterson (62^nd, 19:50), Ethan Tucker (72^nd, 20:24) and Kasen Loeffler (73^rd, 20:25) were the next three Southeast Valley runners to finish the 5k.

              In the girls’ race, the top finisher was Katie Field who had a season best time of 24:07 to finish 47^th. Right behind Katie was freshman Charlie Dorsey whose career best time was 24:08 to take 48^th and Ruby Stimpson who was 53^rd also in a career best of 24:35. Meia Hefley (72^nd, 27:53) and Brooke Peterson (75^th, 28:25) were the final two Jaguar runners to cross the finish line.

              The boys team finished 8^th overall with 201 points. The top three teams who qualified for state from Eagle Grove were Denver with 43 points, Okoboji with 95 points and Van Meter with 105 points. On the girls’ side, Southeast Valley finished 10^th with 250 points. Van Meter with 53 points, Dike-New Hartford with 66 points and Jesup with 73 points were the top 3 teams and state qualifiers. There were 15 different schools that competed at the Eagle Grove site.

              “This night is always full of emotion. I’m extremely happy to see Lincoln qualify for state.  He’s had an outstanding season and career and it’s great to see him end his career running at the state meet. I am looking forward to seeing him compete Friday in Fort Dodge,” commented Coach Nuss. “But it’s also a bittersweet night as you see the rest of the team finish their season, some on high notes as they accomplished their goals, but also some sadness as you see others not quite reach goals and watch the other seniors finish their careers.”

              Lincoln will compete on Friday, October 31^st in the boys 2A race at 11:15am. The girls 2A race is prior to that at 10:30am. Class 3A is Friday afternoon while class 1A and 4A compete on Saturday. The state meet is held in Fort Dodge at Lakeside Country Club at Kennedy Park. Tickets need to be purchased online from the www.iahsaa.org as tickets can not be bought at the park and they go on sale Monday, October 27^th.