"I knew he was going to win, because when he does that he wins," said mom Amy Spencer of her son's move to the front.
Amy Spencer's sentiment may have been based on premonition, but Coach Marty Gingerich saw the same thing and knew Bill was going to win as well.
"When Bill had gone by before he was in seventh place and all of a sudden, the next time I see any of the runners it was Bill and he was way out front and that was less than a half mile since I'd seen him before," said Coach Gingerich who was positioned near the mile marker when he saw Bill Spencer zoom by at the head of the pack of 1A boys.
"When I saw that I knew he would probably win and that was really exciting," said Gingerich who, until Saturday, was the first ever IMS runner to win a State Cross Country individual Championship (in 1980).
"Now there's someone else at IMS who has that experience - that's great," said Gingerich.
Spencer moved to the lead about five minutes into the race - passing the lead pack and maintaining his lead as he cruised to the finish line in a time of 16:26 - 17 seconds ahead of second place finisher Dan McDonald of BCLUW.
Following Spencer to the finish line was teammate Truman Shetler who finished sixth overall (4th in team scoring) with a time of 16:51.
"Everybody was better trained over the summer," said Shetler, a senior. "Coming into this school year we had goals: to win five meets, win state, and score under 50 at most of our meets, which we did. And individual goals, for me it was to get top ten at State and I achieved that. I've been looking forward to this ever since the season started."
The rest of the IMS squad cruised in with excellent placings: Seth Miller finished twentieth in 17:49, Ben Wyse was 22nd in 17:53 and Drew Powell rounded out the top five with a time of 17:58 in 24th place. The IMS boys won the Class 1A team title by netting 71 team points ahead of BCLUW which had 98 team points for second place.
The IMS boys' team was bolstered this season with the confidence they eared last year when they finished second at the Class 1A State Meet.
"I'd say right after we finished second we knew we were going for it all next year," said Bill Spencer of his team's commitment to getting back to Fort Dodge. "As soon as the season came, we got right to it and we knew what our goal was, we aimed for it, we got it."
Coach Gingerich said he thought his team was positioned for a State Championship race going into the meet.
"It looked like it was ours if the race went well," said Gingerich, "The position we got last year, state runners up, we had the confidence that we could win this year and things went well for us. We did have some pretty good training over the summer, people stayed healthy all throughout - we had just a few minor viruses here and there but things just went really, really well."
Senior Ben Wyse said it felt great to get the team win.
"We were shooting for under 100 so we burst through that," said Wyse. "It couldn't feel better."
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At the awards ceremony, a group of IMS students, dressed in white shirts, black suspenders and hats, broke out into song: "Happy Birthday Bill Spencer . . ."
17 years ago, Bill Spencer was born on a Halloween afternoon.
"Just about this time of day," said mom Amy Spencer, "It was actually 2:37 in the afternoon."
Spencer's Cross Country race started at 2:30 in the afternoon, so he literally celebrated his birthday by taking the lead and sticking with it.
"It's your birthday, the Hawkeyes won, your team wins state, I win, it's possibly the best day of my life," said Bill Spencer. "My mom just told me that I turned 17 during the race. I was born at like 2:35, or 2:36. It's amazing, I don't think I've ever felt this good in my whole life."
The Iowa Hawkeyes football team helped Spencer celebrate a Halloween birthday by putting up 28 points in the fourth quarter to overcome a pesky Indiana University team and stay undefeated at 9-0.
Spencer's mom said she's grateful to God for giving her son a chance to run in Fort Dodge.
"We're just really thankful to God for getting him over the flu he had last week because we wouldn't have even been here with that," said Amy Spencer.
Spencer said he was surprised when he came up to the front barely a mile into the race.
"I was planning to stick behind because of the wind and find somebody to draft off of, but I knew if I was to pass them I was going to have to pass them right then - and then just take it - because otherwise they'd draft off of me," said Bill Spencer.
The course was muddy and a brisk wind battled the runners around the State Meet course.
"We were all battling the same wind so once I was far enough ahead of them that they couldn't draft me it would be twice as hard for them to catch me when I was that far ahead," said Spencer.
Spencer already has some goals for next season.
"Hopefully the weather will be better and I can see how close I can get to the state record," said Spencer. "I don't mean to beat it, but hopefully down into the 15:30s. So, shoot for the 15:30s time-wise and another State Championship - that would be good for me."
Stephen Dak from Marshalltown set the State Cross Country record at 15:05 in 2006. A finish time in the low 15:30s would give IMS' Bill Spencer a spot among Iowa High School Athletic Association record holders.
Madeline Miller runs for IMS girls
Most of the fun for Madeline Miller came before she got to Fort Dodge.
"I wasn't expecting to be able qualify for state," said Miller who finished tenth in her District Race on Monday, October 26. "So, I was super excited when I actually found out that I was going to state."
Miller was the only IMS girl to qualify for the race, so she ran for an individual place and finished fifty-sixth out of 131 Class 1A girls with a time of 16:43.
Miller said she didn't think the sloppy course and high winds really effected her very much.
"It really wasn't bad at all," said Miller. "Sometimes it slowed me down but I just sped back up so it was OK."
Miller is the first IMS female athlete to compete at the state championship level in any sport since Gretchen Geyer did in track in the 2007-2008 school year. The girls cross country team last competed in the state meet in 2006.
Katy Moen of Wapsie Valley won the Class 1A girls race by a wide margin - finishing in 14:52, 25 seconds ahead of second place finisher Audrey Giffin of Prince of Peace. Lone Tree freshman Ella Feldman and Alena Loan finished twenty first and twenty fourth respectively with times of 16:04 and 16:06 respectively.
Iowa Mennonite
Boys Results:
Bill Spencer - 16:26 (1st)
Truman Shetler - 16:51 (6th)
Seth Miller - 17:49 (20th)
Ben Wyse - 17:53 (22nd)
Drew Powell - 17:58 (24th)
Kyle Miller - 18:43 (54th)
Cody Miller 19:12 (66th)
Class 1A Boys
Team Results:
Iowa Mennonite - 71
BCLUW - 98
Tipton - 111
Woodbine - 146
St. Albert - 157
Central, Elkader - 185
St. Edmond, Fort Dodge - 195
South O'Brien - 214
Logan-Magnolia - 235
Laurens-Marathon - 235
Nashua-Plainfield - 253
Wapello - 261
South Hamilton - 306
Grundy Center - 310
Lone Tree - 310
