Three individual area runners qualified for the Class 1A Cross Country State Championships at Thursday’s district meet in Iowa City. Lone Tree Lions sophomore Vivian Zaruba was the lone girl to make it to state, finishing sixth with a time of almost 21 minutes and 53 seconds. In the boys’ race, Columbus Community Wildcats junior Damian Vergara also finished sixth in 17 minutes and 59 seconds, while Winfield-Mount Union Wolves sophomore Kohlby Newsom was one spot behind him, clocking in at 18:15.

WMU junior Gabe Hemsworth just missed a medal and a chance to move on to state by finishing 11th in a time of nearly 18:44. Columbus senior Tyler Humiston was close to qualifying as well, finishing in a tick under 19 minutes flat to end up 14th. The other top boys’ times for area schools belonged to WACO Warriors sophomore Keriran Luitjens in 19:47; Hillcrest Academy Ravens sophomore Jesse Blossom in 20:20; Lone Tree junior Joey Bircher in 22:49; Highland Huskies junior Jackson Schneider in 23:09; Sigourney Savages sophomore Dawson Meyer in 23:55; and Keota Eagles sophomore Owen Morris in 24:06.

The top times from the girls’ race that did not qualify for state were Sigourney freshman Ellie Yates at 23:34; Highland freshman Siena Stanerson at 23:37; Columbus sophomore Ariana Vergara at 23:54; Hillcrest sophomore Delaney Shaw at 26:12; WACO senior McKenzie Vradenburg at 26:24;  and WMU freshman Karilyn Titus at 27:06.

Zarbua, Newson and Damian Vergara now move on to the 1A state meets, which will be run Friday morning starting at 10:30 in Fort Dodge.