Rump, Tripp, and Wiegand qualify for state x-country

WILLIAMSBURG – The Fort Madison Lady Hounds suffered another just-miss at Wednesday’s state qualifying meet in Williamsburg ending their run at a team appearance at the state meet next week.
In 2024 the girls just missed qualifying as a team, sending only Avery Rump in her junior season to the state meet in Fort Dodge.
The 4th-place finish stung the girls as only the top 3 teams advance out of the qualifier. At Wednesday’s run at Williamsburg, the girls again captured 4th place in the district with 116 points. Williamsburg and Ballard finished 1st and 2nd with 66 and 68 points, respectively. Center Point-Urbana was 3rd with 73.
Rump again set the pace for the Lady Hounds, garnering a 6th-place finish overall with a time of 19:25.7. Mt. Pleasant freshman Avery Fedler won the girls' district title with an 18:59.2. She will automatically qualify for the state run Friday, Oct. 31.
Mara Smith had the second best time for the Bloodhounds with 19th-place in the team scoring and 20th overall time of  21:11.4. Ellie Huebner finished 26th in team scoring and 27th overall with a 21:54.5. The final two scoring runners for the Lady Hounds were Ellie Hellman and Jordyn Marshall who finished 32nd and 33rd in team scoring. Hellman had a 22:22.7 while Marshall finished at 22:24.2.
The final individual qualifiers will be announced later this week following completion of district qualifying meets. Classes 1A and 2A qualifiers are scheduled for Thursday.
In the boys' meet, the Bloodhounds also captured a 4th-place finish. Not getting a runner in the top 10 hurt the Hounds' chances, but four of the five scoring runners finished in the top 20 led by Riley Tripp and Hunter Weigand.
The Bloodhounds finished with 101 points behind Central DeWitt (48), Grinnell (62), and Davenport Assumption (89).
Tripp finished 12th with a 16:48.5 and Wiegand, who has shown steady improvement all year, finished 14th in team scoring with a 16:51.6. Mason McLey and Nolan Guzman were 16th and 18th overall and in team scoring. McLey raced to a 17:03.2 and Guzman was close behind at 17:21.4. Freshman Logan McClure was 41st and the final scoring runner for the Hounds with an 18:23.7.
Tripp and Wiegand would qualify individually finishing in the top 15. State qualifier guidelines say the top 15 qualify and, if the top three teams occupy all top 15 spots, the top 5 individual runners will also qualify. However, six runners of the top 15 are not on state qualifying teams, so it would appear the other Hounds will not get a spot at the state meet.
Due to those same rules, only Rump will advance to the state meet again for the girls.
Her race will start at 2 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 31 with Tripp and Wiegand running at 2:45 p.m. at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge.
Central Lee and Holy Trinity cross country state qualifiers are Thursday. The Hawks will run at Iowa City Regina, and the Crusader boys will run at Wildwood Park in Ottumwa. Both meets start at 4 p.m.