The Washington Demons have put together a brilliant cross country season, with the Washington boys ranked seventh in the state as a team in Class 3A and the Demon girls ranked 17th. Now comes a chance to defend their title as the kings and queens of the Southeast Conference, as Washington heads to Fort Madison to race in this year’s conference championships today in search of a three-peat.

The Washington boys have been dominant this season, winning all but two meets. Leading the way is senior Micah Rees, the fourth-ranked individual runner in 3A, who has won every race but one this season and has set a new school record in each of his last five meets, including running a blistering time of 15 minutes 28 seconds to win the Lynx Invitational Saturday at North Linn.

Junior Tyler Alderton has also been running career times this season for the Demon boys after qualifying for state last year, while sophomore Iris Dahl is building on her state medal from last season by running the fastest time of the season for the Washington girls, propelling her to the number-nine ranking in the state.

Sophomores Andrew Rees and Sawyer Tschantz and seniors Lane Schrock, Andrew Shepherd and Kael Malichky have been consistent scoring runners for the boys, as as have freshman Emma Horak; sophomore Angeline Anderson; senior Abigail Kleese; and juniors Lauren Horak, Quincy Griffis, Kendall Hinrichsen, Alyvia Anderson, Eden Levetzow and Isabella Lujan. Washington runs at the Southeast Conference meet starting this afternoon at 4 at Rodeo Park in Fort Madison.