It was a chilly, running weather type of day at the Iowa City Kicker’s Complex on Thursday for a class 1A state qualifying meet and several KCII area athletes punched their ticket to Fort Dodge.

The Columbus Community boys team, Hillcrest Academy’s Leah Bontrager, and Winfield-Mt. Union’s Gabe Hemsworth all advanced in a field where the top two teams got through and the top 10 individuals. This is the second state appearance for the Wildcats in as many years and they did so by recording 66 points to beat out third place North Linn with 86. The host Regals of Regina won with 41. Freddy Vergara was comfortably in second place with a time of 17:25 and fellow senior Isaac Acosta was not far behind in sixth (18:17). The seniors knew this was the end goal all along. Vergara – “Going as a team is even better than running individually. I wanted our whole team at state and we were able to accomplish that.” Acosta -“It was worth all of the pain. I gave it my all and then some more and it was worth it because we are going to state as a team.” Other scored runs included Damian Vergara 19th (19:24), Mason Hills-Carrier 22nd (19:30), and Tim Hills-Carrier 24th (19:38).

WMU’s Hemsworth cracked the top 10 by four seconds finishing ninth in 18:29. He knew it was going to be a battle to the finish. “I knew I was sitting ninth or 10th for much of the race and thankfully I was able to pull it together and got what I wanted.” In the girls competition, Bontrager qualified for Fort Dodge by being in the top five all race and the senior crossed the finish line in fourth with a time of 21:42. The now four time qualifier got a boost from her fans. “I started out feeling really good and having all of my friends and family here helped me push through at the end. Smiling always makes it feel better.”

The team boys standings also included WMU in fourth out of 10 with 138 points, WACO seventh with 179, and Hillcrest Academy 10th with 205. The Wolves’ Kohlby Newsom tallied 17th (19:15), the Ravens’ Collin Miller was 18th (19:22), and the Warriors’ Wyatt Dennis was 21st (19:29). Other area individuals included Highland’s Carlos Valenzuela 31st (20:27), Lone Tree’s Taylor Alberhasky 45th (21:36), and Sigourney’s Joey Glandon 54th (22:03). The Columbus girls had the only area team score with 119 points to place fifth. Ariana Vergara was just on the outside looking in placing 12th (22:55). Lone Tree’s Vivian Zaruba was 22nd (24:42), Sigourney’s Reanah Utterback 23rd (24:42), Highland’s Katelyn Waters (25:19), WACO’s Hannah Dennis 36th (25:42), and WMU’s Maggie Hutton 47th (26:48). 

Bontrager, Hemsworth, and Columbus will run at state on Saturday, October 30th with the girls race at 2:30 p.m. and the boys to follow at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.