The Iowa High School Athletic Association and Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union released the 2022 cross country state qualifying sites this week and Washington received some rare and exciting news.

For the first time in at least the last 25 years, the Demons will host a state qualifier with the biggest meet of the year set for Wednesday, October 19th at 4 p.m. The competition at Washington Golf and Country Club is one of five sites in class 3A with others being at Pella, Humboldt, Glenwood, and West Delaware. The top three teams plus the first 15 individual place winners will qualify for the state meet in Fort Dodge on Saturday, October 29th. Class 1A and 2A will have state qualifiers on Thursday, October 20th and the big dance on Friday, October 28th. Both Demon squads are reigning Southeast Conference champs with the boys falling just one point shy of a team state bid in 2021. The boys lose medalist Lance Sobaski to graduation, but return a core of runners while the girls bring back everyone in their top seven. Head Coach Stefanie Haworth sees great potential with this group. “You can tell both programs came off strong track seasons and saw a lot of improvements. They have some high goals and they are realistic. They are a lot of fun to work with and they have been working so hard I have had to pull them back a little in practice knowing how long the season is. They are ready to go for sure and have stuff to prove this year.”

Washington will kick off the new campaign Saturday, August 27th at Anamosa.