The Fairfield cross country teams competed Wednesday, October 21st at the Class 3A state qualifying meet at the Washington Golf and Country Club in Washington, with the girls finishing fifth and the boys finishing fifth as well. Freshman Ava Jones punched her ticket to the state meet with a standout individual performance.
Girls
No. 3-ranked Williamsburg won the team title with 42 points, followed by No. 7-ranked Clear Creek Amana with 60 and No. 13-ranked Newton with 65, with all three earning team berths to the state meet. Xavier finished fourth with 150, Fairfield fifth with 169, Washington sixth with 171, Assumption seventh with 173, Oskaloosa eighth with 208, Fort Madison ninth with 235, Knoxville tenth with 251 and Mount Pleasant 11th with 252. Williamsburg’s Harper Winegarden, ranked third individually, won the individual title with a time of 18:21.2.
Fairfield was led by freshman Ava Jones, who earned an individual state qualifier berth with a 16th-place finish in 20:38.5. Alex Jo Steward followed in 33rd at 22:15.4, Kensley Fligg in 41st at 22:49.0, Naomi Stiemsma in 42nd at 22:51.6 and Madilyn Miller in 46th at 23:02.7.
“Obviously we’re extremely happy for Ava,” Fairfield head coach Jerrod Belzer said. “She ran a :32 PR and became the first freshman state qualifier in our program in the last two decades.”
Boys
No. 5-ranked Xavier won the team title with 59 points, followed by No. 6-ranked Clear Creek Amana with 67 and No. 10-ranked Assumption with 89, the three teams that will advance to Fort Dodge. No. 19-ranked Washington finished fourth with 143, Fairfield fifth with 165, Mount Pleasant sixth with 171, Williamsburg seventh with 172, Oskaloosa eighth with 178, Fort Madison ninth with 202, Newton tenth with 225, Keokuk 11th with 273 and Knoxville 12th with 305. Clear Creek Amana’s Carson Meskimen, ranked second individually, won the individual race with a time of 15:53.7.
Fairfield was led by Elijah Hamilton with an 18th-place finish in 17:07.4. Brice Boatright followed in 29th at 17:36.6, Parker Reid in 32nd at 17:47.8, Kalen Patterson in 36th at 18:05.0, Aaron Wellnitz in 56th at 18:54.7, Elisha Vander Linden in 62nd at 19:16.1 and River Fulton in 76th at 20:25.1.
“A shoutout to our top four boys, Elijah, Brice, Parker and Kalen,” Belzer said. “They had outstanding races, running some big PR’s as well.”
Belzer praised the program’s effort overall.
“We are really proud of our kids,” he said. “They ran several big PR’s and just flat out competed well tonight.”
What’s Next
Under Class 3A qualifying rules, the top three teams and the first 15 individual finishers at each state qualifying meet advance to the state meet. Jones qualified as an individual from a non-qualifying team and will compete at the state meet in Fort Dodge on Saturday, October 31 at 10:30 a.m. The awards ceremony is scheduled for noon.
