The Washington Demons’ brilliant cross country season continued by sending their boys’ team and one girls’ runner to the state meet with top times at a Class 3A qualifying meet in Pella yesterday.

The Washington boys finished second in team scoring with 77 points, 21 behind Pella but 44 points clear of the cutoff line for qualifying for state as a team. The Demons were again led by Micah Rees, but the senior did not win a race for just the second time this season, taking runner-up honors with a time of 15 minutes 48 seconds.

Junior Tyler Alderton was ninth in 16:43 to be a preliminary qualifier for state individually for a second straight season, while sophomore Andrew Rees also would earn an individual place at state if it was needed by crossing the finish line in 16:49 to earn 13th. Sophomore Sawyer Tschantz and seniors Lane Schrock, Kael Malichky and Andrew Shepherd also represented Washington.

Sophomore Iris Dahl will represent the Demons at state for a second straight season after finishing fifth in the girls’ race at Pella in 19 minutes 30 seconds. Dahl told KCII Sports it was not easy to run one of her best races of the season.

“I think the first mile was the most difficult,” Dahl says, “and then, closely behind that, at the two-and-a-half [mile] point, because that first mile, after you get settled in, it’s fine, and then that two-and-a-half point, it becomes uncomfortable, and you just have to push through it.”

The Washington girls were agonizingly close to qualifying as a team for a second straight year, finishing just two points shy of third-place Clear Creek Amana. Sophomore Angeline Anderson and juniors Alyvia Anderson and Qunicy Griffis had top-30 times but needed to be in the top 15 to qualify for state. Dahl and the Demon boys will now move on to the Class 3A state championships next Saturday in Fort Dodge.