Washington senior Emme Keith (center) poses for a picture prior to signing her letter of intent to run cross country and cheer for Indian Hills Community College next fall. Photo by KCII’s Nate Gonner.

Washington’s lone all-conference cross country runner this past fall has decided to continue her running career in college. Senior Emme Keith put a pen to paper Wednesday morning, signing a letter of intent to be the newest member of the Indian Hills cross country, track, and cheer teams next year.

Keith and the rest of the girls’ cross country runners across the state had to adjust this season to a longer race length, expanding it from 2.5 miles up to 3.1. Keith earned back-to-back all-conference recognitions after finishing seventh in Southeast Conference race in Washington, clocking a time of 21:18. She saved her best performance for last, running a career-best 19:59 at the Class 3A state qualifying race in Fairfield on October 22.

Keith said several small colleges throughout the state of Iowa showed interest in her running ability. “Iowa Central, Wartburg, William Penn, Buena Vista, and a few other colleges were recruiting me.”

Indian Hills cross country coach Scott Barnes said as he was recruiting Keith, he couldn’t help but be impressed with her times. “The thing which really surprised us is that she has only been running since she was a sophomore.” Barnes said, “So to have times that are sub-20 minutes in a 5K is phenomenal. The potential growth for her as a runner is huge.”

Keith won’t be the only Demon on the Indian Hills cross country roster next fall. Stephanie Gutierrez, a 2015 Washington High School graduate, ran for IHCC this fall and plans to be back for the team next year.

Keith is planning on finishing her high school athletic career this spring, running distance events for the Demon girls’ track team.