WAVERLY — Abby Kemp and Cayden White are in the home stretch.

BCLUW cross country’s frontrunners led area girls and boys competitors at Tuesday’s Iowa Star Conference meet at the Wartburg Max Cross Country Course, with each earning all-conference top-10 finishes.

Kemp was fifth overall in 20:56 and White placed fourth in 18:05.

It’s the last stop before next Thursday’s Class 1A state-qualifying meet at Pine Lake Country Club in Eldora, where both hope to at least qualify as individuals — Kemp punched her ticket last year while White fell just short.

White improved both on his time and placement from last year’s meet, even if it was short of his personal best time.

“I couldn’t dream of running consistently near sub-18 [minutes] or sub-18 before this year, so that’s been very surprising and I’m really happy about that,” White said.

The Comet boys were fifth overall in the standings with 155 points. Collins-Maxwell (46) edged Baxter (53) for the team title.

Zach Morris was 32nd for the Comets in 21:03, Jacob Castell 34th in 21:32, Colton Donaldson took 39th in 22:43 and Tucker Wedgwood was the final scorer in 47th in 26:12. Elijah Bond added a 49th-place time in 28:41.

“The team ran amazing,” White said.

White had his best run of his career at South Hardin earlier this season and he hopes a repeat performance next week can propel him to state.

“That’s the goal,” White said. “Get our team moving well, run as fast as I can and give the glory to God.”

GMG’s Grady Dieleman was the other area boys all-conference finisher in seventh place in 18:44.

Dieleman came in much faster than his last meet, saving about a minute of time on the course.

“I think it’s a flatter course and it was a nice temperature out today, not very hot or sweaty,” Dieleman said. “I was projected to get eighth and I know I can push myself harder to be even faster next week.”

Meskwaki’s boys were seventh with 170 points, led by Cadelle Youngbear in 14th with a 19:08.

North Tama’s Case Monat led the Redhawks in 23rd at a 19:40 clocking.

Baxter’s Matt Richardson won the boys medal with a winning time of 16:40.

On the girls’ side, Kemp didn’t want to dwell on coming up short of a repeat as Iowa Star champion, knowing that she’s less than 100 percent.

“I’ve been struggling with a little injury,” Kemp said. “I’m just grateful that I’m able to run and I have to remember that I’m still a pretty decent runner, even if I may not feel like it when there are some ahead of me. I’m grateful that I got the time that I did.”

Abbi Waskow of Dunkerton won the girls race in 19:33.

BCLUW was third in the team standings with 52 points, behind Collins-Maxwell (25) and North Tama (47).

Kemp is not the only ailing runner for the Comets, with No. 2 runner Kalia Stover continuing to rest up an injury ahead of the state-qualifier and others like exchange student Rebecca Balter earning a PR with a ninth-place team scoring finish in 23:39.

“There’s a couple others that have been sick too, but we’re hoping to all push through that and push hard for districts, and I think we’ll be pretty close to full strength by then,” Kemp said.

The Redhawk girls took home a 2nd-place trophy, led by all-conference medalist Jamie Jacobs in 10th in 21:51.

Jacobs took almost a full minute off last year’s time to propel her into the top 10 with a new personal best.

“We have a good conference that was really competitive so I had a lot of good runners to pace myself with,” Jacobs said. “There weren’t a lot of runners here tonight that will be at South Hardin next week but it makes me feel better knowing that I broke 22 [minutes].”

Rounding out Redhawk scoring was Gabby Seda in seventh in 23:07, Delanie Taylor eighth in 23:35, Ava Breakenridge 10th in 24:02 and Ava Monat in 16th in 25:15. Violet Seda contributed a 26:04 run for 19th.

Meskwaki’s Dorothy Bear just missed the top 10 with a 22:21 final time for a Warriors squad that did not field a full team. Lilly Bru was GMG’s only girls varsity competitor today, finishing 44th in 32:44.

All four area Iowa Star teams will compete at next Thursday’s state-qualifying meet in Eldora, which starts at 4 p.m.

Iowa Star Conference Meet

At Waverly

GIRLS

Team Standings — 1. Collins-Maxwell 25, 2. North Tama 47, 3. BCLUW 52, 4. Waterloo Christian 95.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Abbi Waskow, DUNK, 19:33; 2. Claire Zweibohmer, RICE, 19:48; 3. Elizabeth Erickson, C-N, 20:05; 4. Jayden Peters, C-M, 20:10; 5. Abby Kemp, BCLUW, 20:56; 6. Cypress Erickson, C-M, 21:15; 7. Chloe Wierson, 21:27; 8. Zoey Gliem, BAX, 21:42; 9. Triona Scott, C-M, 21:46; 10. Jamie Jacobs, NT, 21:51.

NORTH TAMA (47) — 6. Jamie Jacobs 21:51, 7. Gabby Seda 23:07, 8. Delanie Taylor 23:35, 10. Ava Breakenridge 24:02, 16. Ava Monat 25:15, 19. Violet Seda 26:04.

BCLUW (52) — 2. Kemp 20:56, 9. Rebecca Balter 23:39, 11. Ceanna White 24:11, 13. Izzy Morris 24:20, 17. Bella Stotts 25:21, 22. Devin Peterson 27:54, 24. Elle Schipper 29:13.

GMG — 44. Lilly Bru 32:44.

MESKWAKI — 11. Dorothy Bear 22:21, 41. Sia Bear 29:09, 45. Aerial Albert 34:51.

——

BOYS

Team Standings — 1. Collins-Maxwell 46, 2. Baxter 53, 3. Valley Lutheran 71, 4. Waterloo Christian 79, 5. BCLUW 155, 6. Colo-NESCO 158, 7. Meskwaki 170, 8. Janesville 188.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Matt Richardson, BAX, 16:40; 2. Henry Peterson, DUNK, 17:21; 3. Max Handorf, BAX, 17:34; 4. Cayden White, BCLUW, 18:05; 5. Cody Hart, RICE, 18:30; 6. Austin Hennick, C-M, 18:43; 7. Grady Dieleman, GMG, 18:44; 8. Adam Blakeman, VL, 18:49; 9. Silas Kimberley, C-M, 18:52; 10. Aaron Shoemaker, C-M, 18:52.

BCLUW (155) — 4. White 18:05, 32. Zach Morris 21:03, 34. Jacob Castell 21:32, 39. Colton Donaldson 22:43; 47. Tucker Wedgwood 26:12, 49. Elijah Bond 28:41.

MESKWAKI (170) — 14. Cadelle Youngbear 19:08; 39. Hagaa Slick-Driscoll 20:57, 41. Christopher Blackcloud 23:09, 42. Tenoch Snow 23:43, 46. Kingston Davenport 26:11, 48. Jayven Roberts 28:07.

GMG — 7. Dieleman 18:44, 34. Drayson Stephenson 20:34, 35. Henry Dieleman 20:42.

NORTH TAMA — 23. Case Monat 19:40, 31. Andrew Beenken 20:28.