The Mount Vernon-Lisbon cross country team ended their season Friday, Oct. 29, with an appearance in the 2021 Class 3A State Cross Country Meet, with the girls placing fifth and the boys coming in 11th place.
“We are going to really miss our seniors from both state qualifying teams,” said head coach Kory Swart.
“Anna Hoffman, Nadia Telecky, Kambree Hultquist, Quincy Happel, Carter Hall and Carson Sansenbach all did such a nice job paving the way for us this year. They were a fun and easy group to work with and we really appreciated all their leadership and commitment,” said Swart.
“This was just one of those seasons that you wish you could bottle up. We made some great memories that we will all treasure forever,” he said.
“The girls had an incredible race to finish fifth as a team. That was about the best-case scenario for us as we were ranked in the 10 to 15 range most of the year. Everyone stayed consistent and did their part to help accomplish the feat.
“Since the girls began running the 5k distance in 2015, Laura Swart and Anna Hoffman became the first two girls for MVLXC to ever break 20 minutes on the state course in Fort Dodge. They really set an excellent example this season, and it just seemed to spill over to all of the others,” said Swart.
MVLXC Boys
“The boys fought hard to finish 11th as a team, which is what we were ranked going into the meet,” Swart said.
“Luke Stephens led the way for the first time this year, and if you go back to last year’s state meet, every one of the seven runners that ran on Friday had been our number one guy at some point. That really speaks to the pack running style of our team, where you never knew who is going to lead us from one meet to the next.
“It was just a competitive group of guys that leaned on each other in order to help the team get better,” said Swart.

Gallery • 13 Photos

Beth Lutgen | Staff photo

Abbie Moss was 81st