Comet girls place 3rd; McKayla Cole runner-up in final prep race

By John Burbridge  |  sports@charlescitypress.com

FORT DODGE — High expectations can lead to high anxiety.

Charles City girls cross country coach Amanda Rahmiller waited for this year. And now that it’s over, she can finally exhale.

“It will be nice to be at peace for awhile,” she said after her Comets placed third in Class 3A at the Iowa Cross Country State Championships Saturday at Lakeside Golf Course.

It was the best-ever finish for the Comet girls program, which scored 135 team points.

Decorah won its eighth state title and fourth in five years after edging then No. 1-ranked Pella by 4 points (102-106).

One of the goals going into the season for the Comets was dethroning the powerhouse Vikings from their terminal perch atop the Northeast Iowa Conference Meet standings. Charles City fell short of that when taking second to Decorah at the NEIC Meet, but then followed up by winning the state qualifier meet at Vikings’ home course.

Rahmiller acknowledged that as a great accomplishment but … “Getting to the balcony at state” as one of the top three finishers would be even bigger, she said.

“Really, I can’t even describe what I’m feeling right now,” Rahmiller said as her team was getting prep for post-race photos before being honored with the trophy presentation on the said club house balcony.

“They ran with a lot of confidence today, and they’ve been running great all team,” Rahmiller said. “A lot of girls set personal-bests and reached many of their goals this season. Being the highest finishing team in school history is icing on the cake.”

Or should we say “icing on the birthday cake”?

Saturday was Charles City senior McKayla Cole’s birthday. It will likely be a memorable one.

Going into a field stacked with several of Cole’s nemeses — including last year’s defending individual champion Julia Schumacher from Assumption, and Crestwood’s Ellie Friesen, who has developed a penchant for running neck-and-neck with Cole in distance races before pulling away in the last quarter mile for the win — as well as the emergence of Center Point-Urbana’s freshman sensation Adrianna Katcher, Cole was hard pressed to improve or even match her third-place performance from last year.

“But with this being my last race, I wanted to go out strong,” Cole said.

Recording a personal-best 5K time of 18 minutes, 40 seconds, Cole managed to hold off third-place finisher Schumacher by 3.5 seconds and finish well ahead of Friesen, who placed eighth.

Cole couldn’t “catch” Katcher, who led throughout the whole race and finished with first-place time of 18:27.

Cole’s runner-up performance is the highest individual XC placing for a Comet girl.

When asked how she will prepare during the winter for the track season — Cole is a multiple-event state track qualifier and medalists — Cole said about the same way she normally trains. Except one thing: she won’t be running track for the Comets this spring … rather the Northern Iowa Panthers.

“Like I said, this is my final race as a Comet,” said Cole, who further clarified the meaning of the statement. “I’m going to graduate after this semester, then I’m going to enroll at UNI and red-shirt this spring on the track team.

“It was something I had planned to do for a while. We thought this would be the best route to take. If I’m going to college, why wait any longer?”

Rahmiller, who is an assistant coach for the Comet girls track team, wishes Cole would stay.

“But she’s made up her mind,” Rahmiller said. “I’ve already tried to change it.”

At least sophomore Whitney Martin is due to stick around for a few more years. She placed 26th overall and 17th in team-placing points for the Comets with a time of 19:57.

Comet freshman Mackenzy Bilharz — three more years — placed 49th overall and 31st in team-placing with a time of 20:28.

Seniors Sarah Turpen (20:46, 40th TP), Bailey Mitchell (20:54, 46th TP) and Alysha Bilharz (21:02, 54th TP); and sophomore Mariah McKenzie (22:17, 88th TP) rounded out the Comet field.

“I’m going to miss our seniors,” said Rahmiller, who took over the program when they were freshmen. “They helped build this program with all their hard work.”

Cole, Mitchell, Turpen and Bilharz will run for the East squad this Saturday at the Iowa All-Star Cross Country Meet at Des Moines Area Community College.

The following weekend, a squad of Comets will participate as a non-high school sanctioned club team at the Nike Heartland Regionals in Sioux Falls.

Iowa Cross Country

State Championships

Class 3A Girls

TEAM SCORES — 1. Decorah 102, 2. Pella 106, 3. Charles City 135, 4. Bishop Heelan 144, 5. Wahlert Catholic 147, 6. Mount Vernon 203, 7. Dallas Center 209, 8. North Polk 212, 9. Humboldt 212, 10. Denison-Schleswig 222, 11. Gilbert 242, 12. Spencer 248, 13. Assumption 273, 14. Ballard 296, 15. Solon 327.

TOP 15 — 1. Adrianna Katcher (Center Point-Urbana) 18:27, 2. McKayla Cole (CC) 18:40, 3. Julia Schumacher (A) 18:43, 4. Joy Ripslinger (A) 18:43, 5. Sophia Gilbert (BC) 18:55, 6. Reagan Anderson (DS) 19:03, 7. Josephine Berlage (D) 19:08, 8. Ellie Friesen (Cr) 19:10, 9. Kourtney Delperdang (Spirit Lake) 19.13, 10. Mary Blanchard (G) 19:23, 11. Aubrie Fisher (Iowa Falls) 19:24, 12. Megan Sievers (Carlisle) 19:25, 13. Tess Roorda (P) 19:29, 14. Amber Aesoph (BH) 19:34, 15. Isabella Luu (H) 19:40.

CHARLES CITY (135) — 1. Cole, 17. Whitney Martin 19:57, 31. Mackenzy Bilharz 20:28, 40. Sarah Turpen 20:46, 46. Bailey Mitchell 20:54, 54. Alysha Bilharz 21:02, 88. Mariah McKenzie 22:17.