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Hermanson ends MHS hiatus

Bobcat frosh finishes 9th to qualify for state

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown freshman Phoebe Hermanson runs along the final stretch of the Marshalltown Community College Cross Country Course during the Class 4A state-qualifying meet on Thursday. Hermanson finished in ninth to earn her first state bid as a Bobcat, the first MHS girl to do so since 2014.

A four-year state drought was ended for the Marshalltown girls cross country team on Thursday, as Bobcat freshman Phoebe Hermanson punched her ticket to the state meet.

Hermanson ran her best time of the season in the state-qualifying meet at the cross country course on the Marshalltown Community College campus, crossing the line at 20 minutes, 12 seconds to place ninth in a loaded Class 4A field.

“She has run well all year, I knew that she had a chance today,” MHS girls cross country coach Stacy O’Hare said. “All she needed to do was go out and run her race, be relaxed, run smart and she would make it. And that’s exactly what she did, she ran a smart race today.”

Considering she has only been in high school for a little more than two months, Hermanson said she had no idea she would be the first Bobcat girl to qualify for the state meet since Rachel Blagg did so as a senior in 2014.

“I was just trying to get on varsity to see how well I could do this season,” Hermanson said. “It’s pretty cool to see how far we’ve come.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON - Marshalltown harriers Kaci Uhde, right, Makenna Ainsworth, middle, and Aida Almanza, left, lead a pack of girls at the midway point of the Marshalltown Community College Cross Country Course during the Class 4A state-qualifying meet on Thursday.

Not only is Hermanson the first girl state qualifier from Marshalltown in four years, she’s the first freshman to make the trip to Fort Dodge since Lydia Martin, who was an individual qualifier with the last Bobcat team to qualify in 2007. Martin qualified for state in all four years she ran, which bodes well for Hermanson’s future.

Hermanson placed 16th at the CIML Iowa Conference meet last Thursday at Southeast Polk, a meet where she faced many of the girls she ran with for the state-qualifying meet, and O’Hare said she did well to make some adjustments to her approach.

“Each night she continues to improve, she’s so coachable, she works hard, she listens,” O’Hare said. “At conference I thought she went out a little fast so I told her, ‘hey, we don’t need to be out with the lead, we need to be back in that second group with the Waukee kids,’ and she did exactly that. She ran a smart race and it got her to state.”

Hermanson said she was able to stick to her race plan and kept a good mindset throughout the race, which helped her run 41 seconds faster than the last time she ran on the MCC course in the Bobcat Classic.

“I was trying to stay behind the leaders as much as I could,” she said. “It was a good race, I was trying to stay positive in my head so I could have a positive race.”

T-R PHOTO BY THORN COMPTON

Throughout the entire race, Hermanson sat in the second lead pack, never giving up too much ground and keeping a steady pace. She said it wasn’t until there was roughly half a mile left that it donned on her she might be heading to state.

“It was kind of as I made the last turn, I could kind of hear people behind me but I was like, ‘I think I have it,'” she said. “I was just trying to finish it out.”

Hermanson wasn’t the only Bobcat to cut time from the last running on the MCC course, as Jade Tejada came in 37th with a 22:39, more than a minute and a half faster than her time in the Bobcat Classic.

Kaci Uhde shaved off nearly two minutes, going from a 25:01 to a 23:03 to finish 41st in the state-qualifying meet. Mary Kate Gruening came in 44th with a 23:35, Aida Almanza placed 45th with a 23:32, Makenna Ainsworth took 47th with a 23:54 and Mia Barajas was 51st with a 24:23.

Gruening and Almanza both cut more than a minute off of their times, and Ainsworth competed strong even though she hasn’t had much varsity experience.

“Overall we competed much better, we’ve really talked a lot about those kids putting themselves in position to beat people down the stretch, a lot of time we are just running out in the middle of nowhere and when you are coming down the stretch there’s nobody to beat,” O’Hare said. “In that last mile you are looking to gain on people, put yourself in position to knock somebody off at the finish line and I thought our kids did a great job tonight.”

As a team, Marshalltown game in seventh with a score of 176, 13 points behind Newton in fifth and 71 points ahead of Waterloo in eighth.

Waukee was the top team finisher with a 36, while Iowa City West and Ankeny Centennial both finished second and third to earn a team trip to state.

“I was really pleased with our team effort today, I thought our kids really competed well. We had two teams that we were going after, Newton and Mason City. Mason City beat us by 17 at conference, and they beat us by a lot more today, but Newton only knocked us off by 13.

Other than Hermanson, only three other girls not from Waukee, Iowa City West or Ankeny Centennial earned a state berth, and only one of those girls — Camille Jackson from Ames — finished ahead of Hermanson.

Now that she gets a shot at running alongside the other best runners in the state at 4A, Hermanson said she is ready to get that first state meet under her belt, though she doesn’t have much familiarity with the course at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.

“I will have to go online and check some stuff out,” Hermanson said with a giggle. “It’s just exciting to run against the best girls in the state, I just want to finish and be there to experience it.”

O’Hare said there’s a ton of excitement around the girls program now, and she hopes to capitalize off of that moving forward.

“This is where I want to start next year, I think the kids are excited for Phoebe but they are also like, ‘hey, let’s get there as a team now,'” O’Hare said. “Hopefully that is something that motivates the kids, now we will put the time in over the summer and see what happens.”

Team Standings — 1. Waukee 36, 2. Iowa City West 58, 3. Ankeny Centennial 75, 4. Ames 101, 5. Mason City 140, 6. Newton 163, 7. Marshalltown 176, 8. Waterloo 247, 9. Fort Dodge 268.

Individual Qualifiers — 1. Deniz Ince, ICW, 18:48; 2. Camille Jackson, Ames, 18:55; 3. Peyton Kelderman, WAU, 19:00; 4. Sydney Schaffer, WAU, 19:16; 5. Kathryn Vortherms, 19:50; 6. Isabelle Schaffer, WAU, 19:51; 7. Jeanne Peters, AC, 20:08; 8. Maddy Negley, ICW, 20:09; 9. Phoebe Hermanson, MHS, 20:12; 10. Kiara Malloy-Salgado, ICW, 20:15; 11. Molly Bannister, WAU, 20:16; 12. Jessica Caraway, WAU 20:27; 13. Ashay Malow, NEW, 20:30; 14. Katie Jensen, AC, 20:33; 15. Hannah Thomas, MC, 20:41.

MARSHALLTOWN (176) — 9. Hermanson 20:12, 37, Jade Tejada 22:39, 41, Kaci Uhde 23:03, 44. Mary Kate Gruening 23:35, 45. Aida Almanza 23:42, 47. Makenna Ainsworth 23:54, 51. Mia Barajas 24:23.

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