Wow! What a day for the Boone Central cross country teams Thursday in the C-2 District meet at Pierce.
Halie Smith turning her first career victory into a district championship!
Kevin Carder placing third with another exceptional individual effort!
The Cardinal boys scoring a state-qualifying third place after finishing in the 5th to 7th range at meets all season!
Wow!
“The district meet was a very satisfying event for us!” exclaimed Boone Central Coach Tom Dickey. “I really felt we couldn’t have run a whole lot better than we did in both races.
“Halie and Kevin ran exceptionally – it was certainly a great time for Halie to win her first race! Bobbie Bader ran well again, even though she wasn’t feeling well. Jacob Lindgren and Otto Pankrath ran the best races of their careers to nail down the third team spot.
“Now, we’ll head to state Friday with the hope we improve just a bit more and knock off a few unsuspecting teams and runners!”
Thursday’s district event got off to a resounding start for the Cards with Smith’s victory in the girls competition. The lithe senior paced the pack early, ran second for a brief time at the mid-point of the race, then finished with a strong kick to win handily in a time of 16:17.
Although Norfolk Catholic’s Jarren Heng ran away from everyone in the boys event, Carder battled another Knight standout – Nicholas Knudson – throughout the race and missed a runner-up finish by less than a second after a furious stretch run that produced a 16:03 clocking.
Lindgren (24th, 17:32) and Pankrath (26th, 17:37) put Boone Central in position in a tight team fight for the third and final qualifying position and the Cards claimed the berth with their final runners bunched fairly well.
Boone Central’s biggest disappointment of the day was for senior stalwart Lana Koziol. Bidding for her fourth consecutive trip to the state meet, Koziol missed by three positions on a flat Pierce course that did not play to her strengths, placing 18th in 17:26.
Bader followed with a strong performance (25th, 18:08) and Mary Jo Stark also had a solid day (29th, 18:23).
Complete Results in Print Edition of Albion News.
