HTC's Hellige qualifies for state cross-country meet

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BY CHUCK VANDENBERG

PCC EDITOR

FAIRFIELD - Holy Trinity's Matt Hellige was the lone runner from Fort Madison to qualify Thursday for the state cross country meet at Lakeside Golf Course Oct. 27 in Fort Dodge.

The Class 1A boys run starts at 2:30 p.m. and is the last run of the day. The Iowa High School Athletic Association announced today that no public parking will be allowed inside the park, but shuttles are running from four different locations in town. Visit the IAHSAA website here for more information: http://www.iahsaa.org/cross-country/2017-state-cross-country-meet-information/

Hellige finished the 5K run at the Class 1A Iowa City Regina qualifier with a time of 18:03.96.

Holy Trinity junior Matt Hellige navigates a turn at the Iowa City Regina state cross country qualifier Thursday. Hellige finished 11th and will make the trip to the state meet in Fort Dodge on Oct. 27. Photo courtesy of Matt Mohrfeld.

HTC Head Coach Matt Mohrfeld said Hellige had a solid run but the times were deceiving because the course was a little long.

"The numbers are a bit deceiving because the course was long, but Matt had a great run. Competition was tough up there. Every school had a horse in the barn," Mohrfeld said. "Matt put it out there real good. He went in with the right frame of mind."

He said Hellige will continue training this week to prepare for the Fort Dodge run in 10 days.

"We'll be training. He looks pretty solid and, track over track, he's consistently 30 seconds faster than last year and his performance has come up about 5%," Mohrfeld said. "He's a machine and races like one."

Dayne Cordray finished 24th at the Class 3A run at Fairfield's Waterworks Park with a time of 17:58.74, the highest finish for the Hounds, 29 seconds away from the top 15 and qualifying on the 5K run.

The Hounds' Katie Dennis tries to catch up to an unidentified runner Thursday at the Class 3A girls cross-country qualifier at Fairfield's Waterworks Park. Dennis earned 25th at the run and miss qualifying as the top 15 runners go to the state meet in Fort Dodge on Oct. 27. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC.

Freshman Katelyn Dennis took 25th in the girls' run. The Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union website did not post the times with the runners, only the place finishes. A marshall at the race was overheard indicating cards had gotten out of line after several girls collapsed at the finish line.

Dennis said she felt she ran her best race today and was excited.

"I was just trying to do my best and, I guess, whatever happened happened. This is my favorite course, I love the scenery and I like running in the woods," she said.

"I think I did pretty good for a freshman and my goal this season was to try and get in the 20s and I think I got pretty close. When I was going across the line I saw 20:58 so I think I'm in the low 21s."

She said her goal is to have one of the pictures in the Multi-Purpose Room at FMHS be of her finishing in the top 10 at the state cross-country meet.

Maddie McVey took 48th overall in the girls' run followed by Ashlynn Haas who finished in 56th overall followed by senior Josie Pumphrey at 59th, who was running in only her second meet of the year as she's also the libero for the Bloodhound volleyball team. Claire Hellman finished in 75th place for Fort Madison.

McVey said she had her best run of the year and said her time was about 22:40.

"They changed the course from the last time and they added a big hill but I think that helped because I was able to pass a couple kids on that hill," McVey said.

Pumphrey said her time was close to 23:16.

"I felt like if I had run in more meets, I would obviously had done better. I went out to just give it my all and be a multi-sport athlete." I get this wierd thing where it's hard for me at first but then you get to this point and then you just go."

Hounds sophomore Anthony Barnes finished 45th overall but moved up four places in the final 70 yards with an all out sprint to the finish line.

"I always have a little bit saved in the tank," Barnes said after the run.

Barnes was joined by by senior Miguel Trejo at 47th place and freshman Hayden Wolfe at 49th in some good pack-running for Fort Madison.

The Fort Madison Bloodhounds get in a huddle just minutes before the start of the Class 3A boys run Thursday afternoon. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

Trejo said this was his favorite course. "I set my personal best here and I haven't touched it yet."

He said he likes to run where the trail goes through the woods on the north side of the lake where there were no spectators.

"This was my last race, I really got better as the season progressed. My goal was to finish all-conference which I got last week."

Trejo said he was just reminiscing as he ran and tried to help the team because he knew wouldn't finish in the top 15.

Freshman Austin Miller, sophomore Owen Kruse, and freshman Will Gager finished in order at 66-68 to finish out for Fort Madison.

Scoring is figured on the top 5 place finishers so Fort Madison finished in 9th place overall out of 13 teams with 231 points.

Clear Creek Amana took first place with a mere 37 points. Clear Creek had five of the top 11 runners at the meet.

Mt. Pleasant's Cody Mertens won the meet with a time of 16:10.09.

Head Coach Brian Mendez said the Hounds knew it would be a tough district to qualify in.

"This was a tough district. I haven't looked things over yet, but we knew coming in we had to run our best races today. The district is tough and they do their best to separate the best teams," he said. "We'd seen some of these teams before, but we had some kids runs some PRs and that's what we want, to run our best races on our last race."

He said it was unfortunate Dayne, who had finished in the top five in most events in this, his senior year, didn't qualify for state.

"They take the top 15 and nobody works any harder than Dayne and nobody deserves it more than Dayne. He's laid it down all these years and works very hard," Mendez said.

"We've got some great seniors and we've got some great kids coming up. I think Katie had a personal best today and that's just great for her. And Claire Hellman has just been a treat to have out. This race is about my seniors. I always try to take care of my seniors."

For Holy Trinity in Iowa City, freshman Phillip Goldie finished in 40th place at the meet with a time of 19:37.90. Jacob Mohrfeld was 63rd at 20:31.35. Brant Holtkamp and Adam Rauenbuehler rounded out the the scoring runners for Holy Trinity finishing 99th and 100th at 21:37.03 and 21:38.98.

Mohrfeld said the other runners performed up to standard as well. Freshman Phillip Goldie came off an injury that had him sidelined for the past two weeks, but was just cleared to run and finished 40th.

"Jacob had a good solid run like he has all season and my seniors came in real well, it was a very positive finish for the regular season."

Goldie finished with a time of 19:37.90. Mohrfeld was 63rd at 20:31.35. Brant Holtkamp and Adam Rauenbuehler rounded out the the scoring runners for Holy Trinity finishing 99th and 100th at 21:37.03 and 21:38.98.

Sam Avery finished in 102nd place with a time of 21:52.63. Mitchell Pothitakis finished at 22:49.20 good for 114th.

The Crusaders finished 9th as a team with 289 points. Calamus Wheatland took first place as a team with 46 points and had the top two place winners.

FMHS Head Coach Brian Mendez high fives sophomore Owen Kruse as he comes through the finish chute at Thursday's cross country qualifier in Fairfield. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

Senior Josie Pumphrey raced in just her second run of the year while sharing time with the Hounds' volleyball team. Pumphrey finished 59th overall. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

Dayne Cordray races around the last turn Thursday enroute to a 24th place fnish in the Boys 3A cross country qualifier in Fairfield. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

Senior Claire Hellman closes in on the finish line at Thursday's cross-country meet. Photo by Chuck Vandenberg/PCC

 

cross-country, Fairfield, Fort Madison High School, Holy Trinity High School, Iowa City Regina, Matt Hellige, Pen City Current, qualifiers, seniors

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