Five area runners battle for position in 1A state XC races

Oct. 26—None of the five Jasper County athletes competing in a Class 1A race at the state cross country meet are seniors.

Two of them are heading back to Fort Dodge for a second time, another pair are freshmen and all five will try to post their best times of the season at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course on Friday.

"My goal for the meet is to get somewhere in the 20s maybe even get close to all state," Baxter junior Matt Richardson said. "Also to run under 16:40 and break the school record again and get a personal record are some other goals."

Richardson is one of the two area runners who competed at state last year. He's currently ranked 28th in 1A. He placed 55th at last year's state meet with a time of 17 minutes, 46.5 seconds.

Lynnville-Sully junior Olivia Norrish is the other returner. She was 57th at last year's girls' 1A state race and posted a time of 21:14.26.

"It feels good to be back there," Norrish said. "I worked really hard this summer and ran more than I had in past years to make sure I could get back."

Olivia Norrish

Richardson will be joined in the boys' 1A state race by teammate Max Handorf and Lynnville-Sully teammates Hendrick Lowry and Colton Alberts.

Norrish will run in the girls' 5K race at 2 p.m. on Friday in Fort Dodge. The boys will hit the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course path at 2:45 p.m.

Richardson and Handorf were 1-2 for the Bolts all season long. Richardson went under 18 minutes six times this fall with his career-best and school-record time of 16:40 coming at Wartburg on Oct. 12.

His plan this time around is to find other ranked runners on the course and stick with them as long as he can. His best time of 16:40 this season would have placed him 11th at state last season. That's fast enough to grab a state medal some years.

Even Richardson's second-best time of 17:10.9 would have placed him 25th last season.

"I will be way more confident the second time around," Richardson said. "The first time I was just happy to be there. This time, I will be trying to compete with or near one of the leading groups. I'm coming into this weekend ranked so that's another confidence booster for me."

Handorf, a freshman, finished faster than 18 minutes five times and came in ahead of Richardson in one of their meets this fall. His personal-best time of 17:33.7 came at Dike-New Hartford on Oct. 3. That race also is on a golf course.

"I'm so pumped for state," Handorf said. "That was one of my goals at the beginning of the season so I'm looking forward to the opportunity of running with all of the best runners in the state."

Max Handorf

Handorf said he's trying to set a new personal record at state and also wants to be the top freshman finisher.

"My main goal is just to soak in the experience and have fun," Handorf said. "Having Matt pushing me in practice has been so beneficial to not just me, but him too, because I know he doesn't want to get beat by a freshman.

"Matt's an awesome runner and I'm extremely lucky to have him as my teammate."

Handorf and Richardson helped elevate the Baxter boys' program this season. The Bolts even grabbed a runner-up finish earlier this year.

"He has given me really good competition and has pushed me in most of the races and practices," Richardson said.

Richardson and Handorf will start their 5K race from Box 14. That also will include No. 5 Aidan Shannon of Wapsie Valley, No. 15 Gavin Grunhovd of North Iowa and No. 26 Payton Griebel of Bellevue.

Lowry and Alberts will get their race started from Box 5. The only ranked runner in that box is No. 19 Kaden Galles of MMCRU.

Lowry went under 18 minutes three times this fall. His career-best time of 17:15.43 was posted at the state qualifying meet and he also went 17:39.49 at the conference meet.

His biggest motivation this season was coming up short last year. He finished 12th at last year's state qualifier but never felt like he ran enough in the offseason to get to state.

Hendrick Lowry

Lowry changed that effort by putting in more than 300 miles this past summer.

"That was part of my thoughts all summer long. It's what motivated me," Lowry said. "I didn't really put in a ton of miles that summer going into last year.

"I saw how close I could get and I thought if I would have run more that summer I may have made it."

Last year, Lowry competed with two seniors who qualified for state. This season, he's the veteran on a team made up of a ton of freshmen, including Alberts.

"It's definitely been different. I'm out front more, but Colton is catching up," Lowry said. "The biggest thing I'm looking forward to at state is just seeing how I do against all that competition."

Alberts perhaps made a bigger jump than anyone from his first-ever high school 5K to his most recent race.

He was the fifth finisher on his own team in his varsity debut. He finished that race in 22:15.03 and posted times in the 19s four times.

His most recent times were 18:18.03 at the conference meet and a career-best 17:29.33 at the state qualifier.

"I wasn't happy with where I was at in the lineup," Alberts said. "I just put more time in and kept pushing myself to do better."

The Hawk freshman is most looking forward to the competition at the state meet. But he's also leaning on Norrish's experience to prepare for a much different atmosphere.

"I'm really excited for the experience and running against all of those other runners. It's definitely something new," Alberts said. "I have never competed with the amount of people that will be there, so that is what I'm most nervous about."

Colton Alberts

Norrish has been under 22 minutes four times this fall. Her personal-best time of 20:27.82 was posted at the state qualifying meet and it would have placed her 31st at last year's state meet.

She also went under 21 minutes at the conference meet.

Norrish will start her race in Box 16 along with two-time defending state champion and second-ranked Noelle Steines of Calamus-Wheatland. The box also includes No. 6 Hallie Kelchen of Cascade, No. 21 Abbi Waskow of Dunkerton and No. 24 Taryn Burbridge of Maquoketa Valley.

Besides Steines, the favorites to win the 1A girls' title are top-ranked Meghan Wheatley of North Linn and third-ranked Addison Voelker of North Butler.

Norrish, who was 11th at the state qualifier her freshman year, wants to PR again and finish higher at state than she did last season.

"I'm looking forward to being able to run with a large group of people," said Norrish, who put in 300 miles this past summer. "Most races we all mostly run by ourselves so just having other runners close to my times to run with will be fun.

"It's chaotic with all the people and there are a lot of sharp turns. So I'm trying to help prepare the guys any way I can."

Headlining the boys' race is defending 1A champion and top-ranked Landon Bendgen of Woodbine.

The other title contenders are expected to be No. 2 Emerson Vokes of Grundy Center and No. 3 Carson Van Sickle of Ogden.