It’s been a brilliant season for Washington Demon cross country, resulting in numerous wins and both teams being state ranked. Now comes a chance to show just how good they’ve gotten, as Washington can punch its ticket to the biggest race of the year by competing in Class 3A state qualifying this afternoon in Pella.

The Demons are ranked seventh in 3A among boys’ teams and 17th among the girls. Washington has won the boys’ team competition at all but two meets, including bringing home a third straight Southeast Conference championship.

Leading the way is senior Micah Rees, the third-ranked individual boys’ runner in the state. Rees picked up his second consecutive conference title last week and has won every race but one. Prior to the conference meet, Rees had set a new school record in five straight races, with the best time of 15 minutes 28 seconds at North Linn being one of the fastest times in the state this year. Now Rees looks to earn a third straight trip to state and build on last season’s 13th-place medal.

Junior Tyler Alderton also reached the 3A state meet last season and has been top 10 in every race but one this season, including runner-up honors at conference. Senior Lane Schrock and sophomores Andrew Rees and Sawyer Tschantz also had top-15 times at the SEC meet and have been consistently posting scoring times.

The Washington girls have been paced by sophomore Iris Dahl, who was the Southeast Conference runner-up and is ranked 17th in the state. A deep junior class including Lauren Horak, Quincy Griffis, Kendall Hinrichsen and Isabella Lujan joined with Dahl to power the Demons to qualify for state last season, where they finished sixth in team scoring. Dahl was also sixth individually at state last year.

Senior Abigail Kleese, junior Alyvia Anderson, sophomore Angeline Anderson and freshman Emma Horak have also been key contributors this season for Washington, which also brought home a third straight conference title last week. Along with the host Pella, the Demons will be competing against runners from Clear Creek Amana, Fairfield, Fort Madison, Harlan, Keokuk, Knoxville, Mount Pleasant, Newton, Oskaloosa, Perry and Saydel.