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Cyclone senior Jenny Hosack placed 10th at the regional meet to help HCHS qualify for State.
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Once the final team standings were revealed, the Cyclones were simply happy and relieved to be moving onward.
Involved in one of the tighter four-team packs you will ever see, the HCHS girls placed second at Monday's Class 3-A Boys District and Girls Regional Cross Country Meet in Perry, thus qualifying for state for a sixth consecutive year.
Led by individual champion Ali Krogman, the Atlantic girls claimed the regional crown with a score of 79, barely nosing out both HCHS (80) and Boone (81), who also qualified for state. Breathing down all their necks was Winterset with a solid fourth-place score of 91 that left them on the outside looking in for a state berth.
"I knew it was going to be very tight, and that just goes to show you how tight it can be," said HCHS head coach Doug Renkly.
The girls team will be joined once again by Cyclone senior Nathan Brace, who placed fourth in impressive fashion to earn his second straight state meet ticket.
HCHS junior Jessie Byrnes and senior Jenny Hosack would have qualified on their own, even if the team had not, after placing sixth and 10th, respectively.
The Cyclones boys placed fifth as a team, falling two spots short of advancing. The top three teams and top 10 individuals in both races qualified for this Saturday's State Cross Country Championships at Fort Dodge.
"I think both teams showed a lot of guts and determination - boys and girls," Renkly said. "You're at a district meet, people are going to rise to the occasion and today was no exception."
Ranked seventh in Class 3-A, the Cyclone girls were the favorite to win at the Perry Golf and Country Club, but had plenty of company at the top with three other state-ranked teams in the field. One of those teams, No. 9 Dallas Center-Grimes, ended up in seventh place with a score of 159.
After the meet, Renkly said he felt fortunate.
"Of course you want to win. You always set your sights on number one," he said. "Today, we'll settle for number two and be happy, and put an exclamation point on the season come Saturday."
Brace, who is No. 5 in the 3-A individual rankings, found himself in a great prep race for state as Monday's boys' field included five of the top six state-ranked runners.
Brace hung right with 3-A's No. 1, 2 and 3 for all but the final 200 meters or so, eventually placing fourth with a five-kilometer time of 16:31. Defending state champion Evan Selsor of Winterset took first in 16:17, followed by Boone's Brogan Austin and Glenwood's Johnny Fuller, both in 16:19.
"I just tried to stay right with them," Brace said, "and then at the end they just started kickin' and I just couldn't hang with them. (The course) was pretty tough. There were quite a few short hills."
Renkly hopes that Brace's showing Monday gives him a boost of confidence for the state meet in that he is every bit worthy of his No. 5 ranking.
"I don't know if he believed that he was in the same company as those guys, but I hope he believes it now, because he is," said Renkly. "He struggled a little bit on that last hundred meters, but I think that's going to come (on) the right day.
"I think he has it in his head now that he can be a top five runner in the state, and we'll just see what happens. It's going to be an exciting race."
Atlantic's Krogman, ranked No. 1 in the state, won the girls' four-kilometer race by 14 seconds over Nevada's Stephanie Markey, 15:30 to 15:44. Two other Trojann runners also placed in the top 12 to help Atlantic beat HCHS for the first time this fall.
The Cyclones' top three runners included Byrnes (6th, 16:11), Hosack (10th, 16:40) and freshman Jess Feldman (14th, 16:55).
"People don't realize that even though you've been winning all season and beating your rivals, it's closer than you think," Renkly said. "We're one person away from having a bad day and getting beat. I can't say we really had a bad day. We were dealing with illness and we battled as well as could be expected. Two days ago, I didn't think we were going to qualify at all."
As surprising as that development might have been, the Cyclone girls were not running at full strength on Monday due to the illnesses making the rounds at HCHS. Sophomore Shelbie Jacobsen was held out of the meet and junior Ellen Klitgaard (21st place) and sophomore Cari Freml (29th) were not at 100 percent.
Renkly credited all his runners for finishing the race strong, noting that every runner passed down the stretch might have made the difference between going to state or not going to state.
"(On Saturday), I didn't know what we were going to be able to bring," he said. "Everybody rose to the occasion today."
The boys' team state qualifiers from the Perry district included Boone with a first-place score of 43 and four top-10 finishers, Glenwood (75) and DC-G (76).
Nevada finished a distant fourth with a 139 and HCHS won the battle for fifth with a 154, placing one spot higher than a year ago at districts to cap another season of improvement.
"I'm very proud of the boys. They just keep climbing that ladder. It doesn't always happen all at once," Renkly said.
"Penciling it out, we thought we could get close to Dallas Center-Grimes, but we didn't quite see Nevada coming. All the boys ran extremely well. We've had our share of illness on the boys side, too. We're not as strong as we could've been today, but we battled through it."
In addition to Nathan Brace placing fourth, Josh Travis ran an 18:25 for 22nd place and the team score was rounded out by Alex Voge (39th), Matt Brace (43rd) and Josh Pauley (46th).
Travis ran his final high school race on Monday as the only varsity senior besides Nathan Brace.
"He went out and followed the game plan perfectly - got right into that Dallas Center-Grimes pack," Renkly said of Travis. "He has been doing nothing but improving all season and he's just a tough, gutsy kid; a good, heady racer. He's been a valuable part of this program for a long time, so we're going to miss him."
Class 3-A District/Regional Cross Country Meet
Monday, Oct. 26 (at Perry Golf & Country Club)
Boys' District Team Scores
1. Boone 43*, 2. Glenwood 75*, 3. Dallas Center-Grimes 76*, 4. Nevada 139, 5. Harlan Community 154, 6. Winterset 162, 7. Saydel 165, 8. Norwalk 172, 9. Atlantic 209, 10. Perry 241, 11. A-D-M 269, 12. Creston 357.
* State Qualifiers
Individual State Qualifiers
1st: Evan Selsor, Winterset, 16:17.
2nd: Brogan Austin, Boone, 16:19.
3rd: Johnny Fuller, Glenwood, 16:19.
4th: Nathan Brace, HCHS, 16:31.
5th: Dennis Lengishon, Atlantic, 16:45.
6th: Nick Yaeger, Boone, 16:55.
7th: Kit Anderson, Norwalk, 17:04.
8th: Bryce Phillips, Boone, 17:18.
9th: Travis Newman, Saydel, 17:24.
10th: Andrew Thiel, Boone, 17:34.
HCHS Individual Places
4th: Nathan Brace, 16:31.
22nd: Josh Travis, 18:25.
39th: Alex Voge, 19:08.
43rd: Matt Brace, 19:24.
46th: Josh Pauley, 19:27.
51st: Brian Wingert, 19:42.
62nd: James Klein, 20:13.
(5-kilometer times; 81 total runners)
Girls' Regional Team Scores
1. Atlantic 79*, 2. Harlan Community 80*, 3. Boone 81*, 4. Winterset 91, 5. Nevada 141, 6. A-D-M 155, 7. Dallas Center-Grimes 159, 8. Norwalk 200, 9. Shenandoah 221, 10. Creston 231, 11. Perry 271, 12. Glenwood 309.
* State Qualifiers
Individual State Qualifiers
1st: Ali Krogman, Atlantic, 15:30.
2nd: Stephanie Markey, Nevada, 15:40.
3rd: Erin Sawyers, Winterset, 15:47.
4th: Nicole Miller, Boone, 16:04.
5th: Megan Patava, Norwalk, 16:09.
6th: Jessie Byrnes, HCHS, 16:11.
7th: Emily Wignall, Creston, 16:20.
8th: Christy Stevens, Atlantic, 16:26.
9th: Natasha Swanson, Boone, 16:31.
10th: Jenny Hosack, HCHS, 16:40.
HCHS Individual Places
6th: Jessie Byrnes, 16:11.
10th: Jenny Hosack, 16:40.
14th: Jess Feldman, 16:55.
21st: Ellen Klitgaard, 17:11.
29th: Cari Freml, 17:24.
40th: Jandy Johnston, 17:43.
41st: Becca Pauley, 17:45.
(4-kilometer times; 81 total runners)
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