It is day one of two of the 2021 Iowa High School State Cross Country Meet in Fort Dodge with Class 3A and 4A set to compete. 

Two of the 25 KCII area athletes will hit the course today in Washington’s Lance Sobaski and Micah Rees. Sobaski will be representing the Demons for the final time in his storied career that has featured two other trips to state. As a sophomore he placed 95th in class 3A and last year was 27th. In order to medal this time around, the senior has to crack the top 15 and is currently ranked eighth in the latest poll by the Iowa Track Coaches Association. He punched his ticket to state after placing third last week at Solon’s district meet. Rees is a first time qualifier and he advanced after placing ninth last week in a tie for his personal best time of 16:56. The sophomore has been in and out of the rankings this fall and has numerous second place showings only behind his senior teammate. 

Head Coach Stefanie Haworth is pumped for the day ahead. “This is a great thing for our program. Micah being a sophomore will just run as hard as he can and see what he can do. Lance is looking to come home with a medal and if he runs like he has been he could. Times can be fast up there though and anything can happen. He just needs to run a smart race and see what happens.”

This is the first time Washington has had multiple runners qualify since going as a team in 1997. The duo will run at 3:15 p.m. this afternoon at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge. Listen to live results on KCII for area athletes at state every hour on the hour today and tomorrow or follow along online at kciiradio.com.