Cole places 3rd at state meet in Fort Dodge

STATE CROSS COUNTRY: LAKESIDE MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE, FORT DODGE

Cole places 3rd at state meet in Fort Dodge

CC’s Connell, RRMR’s LaCoste battle with the best

FORT DODGE — Runners sloshed through the mud and waded through the damp conditions in Fort Dodge on Saturday for the 2015 state cross country meet.

Two Charles City athletes — McKayla Cole and Gavin Connell — and one Class 3A RRMR runner, Sheridan LaCoste, took on the best 15 teams and their runners at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.

Cole, who came into Saturday’s meet ranked No. 2 in the state, said last week that her main focus was to place in the top three in the final meet of her junior year.

“It’s awesome. To come in last year and getting 13th, and then bumping up 10 places, I have no reason to be upset with anything,” Cole said.

With a plethora of individual titles — including a conference and district championship — and personal bests this season, Cole has worked her way toward the top of the leaderboard.

Abby Kohut-Jackson of Ballard won Saturday’s state meet. But as a senior, Kohut- Jackson will be graduated and it will be Cole’s race to lose, she said, as she exits her Comet running career in 2016.

“I want to go for a state title next year,” Cole said. “I’ve definitely got to keep up on my training. I’ll take next week off, then get back to training and track season will start. Hopefully go for my goals in that as well.”

Cole said she the thing she’s learned most about herself as a runner this season is that she’s a lot stronger than she thought she was.

“My body can definitely go harder than I thought it could. I just need to push myself as hard as I can each meet to see the progress.”

Cole finished with a time of 19:11.50.

On the boys’ side, sophomore Gavin Connell tallied a 97th place finish overall with a time of 17:57. Head coach Ryan Rahmiller said Connell’s finishing time and place were a little short of what he had set for himself. But a trip to the state meet is experience in itself.

“This was invaluable in terms of experience for a yougn man like that,” Rahmiller said. “There are some things we need to work on, let the mental approach to a meet like that. But I’m just so proud of him that he made it here.”

For younger runners, Rahmiller said just being able to be surrounded by the sights and sounds of the state meet, along with watching Connell run his race, is good experience that will help prep the younger genteration of Comet runners.

For now, though, Connell will be laying off the miles and practice for a couple weeks to “reset,” Rahmiller said.

“We’re going to take some weeks off and some rest,” Rahmiller added. “ He’ll log some easy miles, get ready for track. Track has a tremendous impact on the cross (country) season. With a guy like him, it adds to his hunger.”

RRMR’s Sheridan LaCoste completed her first season of cross country Saturday at the state meet. LaCoste made headlines after the district meet by becoming the first RRMR athlete to quallify for state since 2008 and the first femle athlete ever from the school to do so.

Head coach Andy Roth said the state meet was not LaCoste’s best race of the season by any means, but showed perserverance through the entire 5K event.

“Sheridan did not have the race she wanted, but this race showed us how much heart she has,” Roth said. “In the first mile, she was up near the top 20, but started to fall behind.”

Extreme cramping caused LaCoste to fall back and finish 116th with a time of 23:22 on Saturday. Through “extreme apin,” LaCoste finished the race and was carried back to camp by her father.

“She could have just quit, but she didn’t,” Roth said. “She nver gave up and crossed that finishline.”

Roth said through the experience on Saturday, he and LaCoste both learned a great deal of what it’s like running at the state meet, and having a taste of accomplishment like making it to the elite race.

“She showed us how much heart and dedication she has for this sport,” Roth said. “We know she will be back next year, and nothing will get in the way of her achieving that.”

Only a sophomore, LaCoste came out this year for the first time after quallifying for state track in the spring.

After the conference meet, LaCoste said she wished she had gone out for cross country last year, and that her team had been so supportive of her accomplishments throughout the season.

It had been years, Roth said, since any RRMR athlete had medaled in a race.

This year, LaCoste medaled in every regular season, conference and district meet she competed in. Heading into track season, LaCoste has a great deal of experience at such a young age.

By Stephen Koenigsfeld sports@charlescitypress.com