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East Marshall girls earn first team bid in 5 years

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - East Marshall harriers Wendy Liera, right, and Mkenzie Robinson approach the final stretch at the Marshalltown Community College Cross Country Course during the Class 1A state-qualifying meet on Thursday. Liera and Robinson placed 14th and 15th, respectively, and the Mustangs took third.

For the first time since 2013 the East Marshall girls cross country team is back in the state meet.

The Mustangs finished third in the Class 1A state-qualifying meet at the Marshalltown Community College Cross Country Course with a score of 85, just two points behind North Linn in second place.

East Marshall senior Melinda Puumala, who will be making her third trip to Fort Dodge as a Mustang, said this was a dream come true.

“It’s very exhilarating, when we found out I found the first person I could find and just hugged them,” Puumala said, a permanent smile plastered on her face. “It’s hard to put it into words right now, it’s just very, very exciting.”

Wendy Liera was the top finisher for East Marshall, placing 14th overall with a time of 21 minutes, 35 seconds, followed by Mkenzie Robinson in 15th with a 21:39 and Puumala in 18th with a 22:03.

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Liera and Puumala have been the top two finishers for the Mustangs for most of the season, so Liera said seeing the freshman Robinson come in just behind her was a bit of a shock.

“I was surprised, Mindy usually is always behind me but I am proud of Mkenzie because she deserved it too,” Liera said.

Had East Marshall not qualified as a team, Liera and Robinson still would have qualified individually, and Mustang head coach Trent Taylor said those two running so well was a catalyst for the qualification.

“Obviously we had two individual qualifiers, which is awesome and it was a huge group of athletes with some quality teams,” Taylor said. “I am very proud of them, knowing that there were three rated teams ahead of us we knew we had to run well and to be only two points out of second place, obviously we had a quality meet performance.”

It was a huge field with 29 total teams in attendance, 19 of which had a full team score. Coming in the East Marshall girls knew they were in a battle for a spot anywhere from second to fifth, and Puumala said there were two specific teams they were gunning for.

“We kind of made a strategy at the beginning, North Linn and Newman Catholic were ranked No. 10 and 11, and we were ranked 12th,” Puumala said. “They were both maroon teams, so we made a deal that if you see a maroon team, you are going to go and at least stick with them.”

The girls did just that, beating Mason City Newman by 51 points and falling just shy of passing the Lynx for second place.

Taylor said having that kind of leadership from his two seniors, Puumala and Maddie Duncan, to come up with a gameplan and have the girls execute it is invaluable to his otherwise young squad.

“Five of the seven are juniors or lower, so that’s always good,” he said. “Our seniors have made a huge contribution this year obviously, Melinda going back for her third time in four years and Maddie making her first voyage, I am so happy to see her go.”

Coming in after Puumala was freshman Addie Lane in 23rd with a 22:27, then came Duncan in 31st with a 22:44. Hannah Roads and Olivia Terrones rounded out the East Marshall finishers in 58th and 66th respectively.

“I am very, very proud of my team,” Puumala said. “We have two freshmen who were in the top five of scoring and they have done phenomenal this entire season. We have all done pretty well, we’ve been getting better the entire year.”

GMG placed 11th out of the 19 teams with full scores, with the Wolverines garnering 327 points.

Angel Schewe was the top finisher for GMG in 30th place with a time of 22:40, followed by Zoe Duncan in 44th with a 23:19 and Belle Duncan in 65th with a 24:04.

Meskwaki had one lone runner, and freshman Shye Johnson came in 27th individually in her first state-qualifying meet with a time of 22:33.

Hudson was the top team for the 1A girls with a 66, and St. Ansgar senior Addy Carlson won the meet with a time of 20:13 to qualify individually.

For the first time in her three trips, Puumala gets to be joined with a full team rather than run individually, something she said he looks forward to.

“It’s really exciting being with a team because you get your own box at state and don’t just get thrown in with a bunch of random people,” she said with a chuckle.

As for any advice Puumala would have to the team, since she is the only one who has made the trip to Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, she said it all comes down to patience.

“Don’t go out too hard,” she cautioned. “The start is always terrible, if I remember I got spiked one year because there were just so many people. It feels very fast but your time is going to be normal.”

Team Standings — 1. Hudson 65, 2. North Linn 83, 3. East Marshall 85, 4. Baxter 95, 5. Newman Catholic 136, 6. Collins-Maxwell 156, 7. West Fork 199, 8. St. Ansgar 220, 9. Lynnville-Sully 221, 10. Madrid 229, 11. GMG 327, 12. South Hamilton 327, 13. Ogden 341, 14. West Hancock 381, 15. Belmond-Klemme 384, 16. Martensdale-St. Marys 440, 17. Wayne Community 443, 18. Central Springs 497, 19. Colo-NESCO 558.

Individual Qualifiers — 1. Andy Carlson, SA, 20:13; 2. Jenna Twait, HUD, 20:18; 3. J’ Lyn Knutson, Melcher-Dallas, 20:22; 4. Lindsey Davidson, Northwood-Kensett, 20:24; 5. Brenna Thomson, Baxter, 20:28; 6. Hannah Bridgewater, NL, 20:40; 7. McKenna Weaver, WF, 20:52; 8. Lauren Ratliff, Baxter, 20:52; 9. Tessa Helms, NL, 20:54; 10. Abbi Goering, Interstate 35, 21:13; 11. Chloe Nelson, NC, 21:22; 12. Caitlin Alberts, L-S, 21:23; 13. Sophie Selenke, HUD, 21:25; 14. Wendy Liera, EM, 21:35; 15. Mkenzie Robinson, EM 21:39.

EAST MARSHALL (85) — 14. Liera 21:35, 15. Robinson 21:39, 18. Melinda Puumala 22:03, 23. Addie Lane 22:27, 31. Maddie Duncan 22:44, 58. Hannah Roads 23:50, 66. Olivia Terrones 24:08.

GMG (327) — 30. Angel Schewe 22:40, 44. Zoe Duncan 23:19, 65. Belle Duncan 24:04, 99. Emma Beeghly 25:47, 124. Grace Schewe 28:02.

MESKWAKI — 27. Shye Johnson 22:33.

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