FORT DODGE — The West Marshall girls’ cross country team set out to make history.

As it turns out, the Trojans repeated it.

West Marshall finished fourth in the Class 2A standings at the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships on Friday morning at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, matching the achievement of the only other Trojan squad ever to make it to state.

The Trojans, who were listed No. 1 in the final Iowa Association of Track Coaches rankings, totaled 151 points to trail only Treynor (121), Waukon (136) and Unity Christian (138) in the 15-team meet on a colder and windier day than the rest of the season.

The 2014 edition of West Marshall girls cross country also placed fourth with 147 points.

So while the Trojans didn’t raise the bar for their program like they had hoped, they met it, and with flying colors.

“I knew it was going to be tough coming in,” said head coach Cynthia Hilleman. “There’s a lot of great teams here. I was hoping for sure top-five, but you know getting first would have been great. But I’m pleased with fourth — I think our girls ran really, really well.

“They buckled down and did what they had to do.”

West Marshall senior Addie Thompson completed her four-year career with her first all-state medal, finishing in eighth place with a time of 19 minutes, 20.7 seconds. It was just two seconds off her personal record and good enough for an individual medal (top-15) at the end of the day.

She had finished 98th, 48th and 18th in her three previous trips to Fort Dodge, and was fired up about her fourth and final chance at a medal.

“Today means a lot,” Thompson said. “It is the end of my high school season, so I really just wanted to get out there, do the best I could, put what I had left out there. I’m really excited of what not only I’ve accomplished but also what the team accomplished, but I’m so sad that it’s over.”

Thompson made her maiden voyage to state as a freshman in 2022 and repeated the feat as a sophomore. Last fall she was joined by then-freshman Dalaney Eldridge, who exploded onto the scene with an all-state finish of 13th, while Thompson climbed to 18th.

In addition to bringing her team with her this year, Thompson had one last goal to achieve.

“I understood what it was like to fall short and I just really didn’t want to do that again,” she said. “It motivated me to be better and push towards that.”

Thompson took more than 17 seconds off her time from last year’s state meet to make the move into the medals despite the brisk conditions on Friday morning.

Eldridge settled for 27th place on the day, completing a season that included an early injury and some unmet expectations. But it didn’t dampen her resolve for the future.

“Our expectation was to win, I mean, we’ve been ranked number one all season and coming in we were pretty confident in ourselves,” she said. “And we just said, give it our all, and that’s what we did.”

Eldridge finished in 20:25.9, just five seconds off her season-best time, and dealt as best as she could with the emotions of missing out on the top-15 a year after standing on the deck with a medal around her neck.

“Sadly this season didn’t get off to a great start for me, but I’ve been improving all season,” she said. “Today I just think I kind of let the cold weather get to me and I was kind of in my head, but other than that I think we did pretty good.”

For only the third time this season, West Marshall freshman Kielly Kasal finished ahead of Eldridge. Her personal-best time of 20:23.5 was good enough to start her state cross country experience with a 23rd-place finish.

“I just wanted to prove to myself what I could do and help my team out,” Kasal said. “And my goal was to break 20 (minutes), and I did not do that, but I still PR’ed.

“I was pretty proud of myself. I’m excited for the future years to see what I can do.”

The future feels to be in good hands in spite of the loss of Thompson. Eldridge is only a sophomore, Kasal is one of three scoring freshmen, and juniors Summer Kurth and Mia Christianson will return with experience in the varsity lineup.

“Addie barely missed the deck (all-state) last year so she’s had a definite goal this year,” Hilleman said. “And I feel like the other girls have a little disappointment, which is natural, but I told them to use that as fuel for the fire for next year. All of them but one are coming back and we’ve got some new goals to keep working on.”

Rounding out West Marshall’s scoring contributions on Friday were freshmen Ella Randall and Zoey Wignall. Randall came in with 74th place and a time of 21:42.0, and Wignall was 95th in 22:05.2.

In the team scoring system, Thompson turned in six points, followed by Kasal (14), Eldridge (17), Randall (47) and Wignall (67).

Kurth came in 122nd in 23:16.0 while Christianson was 126th in 23:37.3.

“I told the girls it was just another race,” Hilleman said. “We’re going to go out there and try an do what we’ve been doing, but it is also another level. We’re running against the best of the best, so we have to try to PR, and I thought that would motivate us to do well.”

For the season, the Trojans won nine of the 12 meets they participated in. With a considerable cast of returners and a strong middle school group on the way, West Marshall is hoping to keep adding to the history books.

“I think with the runners coming up and then our team constantly getting better, we can be just as good as this year next year,” said Kasal.

Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships

GIRLS

CLASS 2A

Team Standings — 1. Treynor 121, 2. Waukon 136, 3. Unity Christian 138, 4. West Marshall 151, 5. PCM, Monroe 162, 6. Van Meter 168, 7. Pella Christian 175, 8. Forest City 201, 9. Mid-Prairie 203, 10. Dike-New Hartford 210, 11. Jesup 247, 12. Albia 248, 13. Crestwood 278, 14. Grundy Center 285, 15. MFL MarMac 309.

Individual (top 15) — 1. McKenna Montgomery, Albia, 18:20.7; 2. Mary Grace Lyons, Monticello, 18:55.2; 3. Katie Young, Unity Christian, 19:09.2; 4. Kambrie Dekkers, Unity Christian, 19:10.5; 5. Scarlett Byrnes, Osage, 19:19.6; 6. Grace Storjohann, Grundy Center, 19:19.9; 7. Brooklyn Stutzman, Mid-Prairie, 19:20.1; 8. Addie Thompson, West Marshall, 19:20.7; 9. Jordyn Bergman, Jesup, 19:32.6; 10. Mady Montgomery, Albia, 19:34.4; 11. Ashlynn Sauser, Oelwein, 19:37.4; 12. Hailey Koelewyn, Unity Christian, 19:41.8; 13. Hallie Kelchen, Cascade, 19:48.3; 14. Lilly Miller, Treynor, 19:53.1; 15. Lydia Parlee, Grand View Christian, 20:00.0

WEST MARSHALL (151) — 8. Thompson 19:20.7, 23. Kielly Kasal 20:23.5, 27. Dalaney Eldridge 20:25.9, 74. Ella Randall 21:42.0, 95. Zoey Wignall 22:05.2, 122. Summer Kurth 23:16.0, 126. Mia Christianson 23:37.3.