It is eerily calm a half mile away from the starting line of the Class 3A state meet at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.
The sound of the starting gun, and then the chaos begins. Thousands of spectators scattered throughout the 5-kilometer course follow the runners and cheer.
“It’s crazy here, but it’s just such a cool environment to be in,” Mount Vernon-Lisbon Coach Kory Swart said. “You just let the crowd carry you along to a great performance.”
The Mustangs thrived in this environment. The boys placed fifth and the girls placed third.
Both teams had an All-State runner – senior Grady Olberding in seventh place for the boys and sophomore Evelyn Moeller was 10th for the girls.
Moeller led the girls team to a podium finish. A story that had been written all year, but the potential for Moeller and this team was not fully realized by Swart until the Williamsburg meet Oct. 1.
“I knew that when she won that meet, then the sky was the limit,” said Swart. “It gives you so much confidence winning a meet.”
Moeller finished in 18:59.1. Junior Kiersten Swart followed her in 35th with a time of 19:43.7. Junior Edith Dawson placed 41st with a 19:51.0. Then it was two sophomores to round out the five scorers for MVL – Miranda Sellner and Rose Pisarik.
Sellner placed 59th with a time of 20:13.9 and Pisarik placed 62nd and finished in 20:18.2.
“The 3-4-5 is what really made the difference and came on for us and help us get to where we’ve gotten,” Swart said.
All five of the MVL scorers will be back next year as they look to bring home a bigger trophy.
Unfortunately, Pella returns five of its top six runners from a team that won the 3A meet with 23 points (15 is a perfect score). Sioux Center was second with 142 points, followed by MVL with 145. Solon was fourth (190).
The boys team came into the meet ranked fourth and f inished fifth with 196 points. As expected, Gilbert won the 3A team title with 33 points.
They were followed by Des Moines Christian (78), Pella (92) and Decorah (142).
Mount Vernon-Lisbon finished 10 pints ahead of sixthplace Grinnell.
Olberding led the team running a time of 15:54.7. He was one of eight 3A runners to finish under 16 minutes. And he was the highest-finishing senior.
“Three-time All-State, two-time conference champion,” Swart said. “You miss kids like that, but not just the scores the leadership that they provide and just the example that they sent.”
The following four MVL runners all finished within 33 seconds of each other. Junior Dawson Scheil finished in 44th with a time of 16:59.6. Senior Seamus O’Connor was the third runner in for MVL at 17:09.9 and placed 53rd.
The final two scorers were both sophomores. Chasen Caskey ran the 5k in 17:21.4 and placed 70th. Anthony Armstrong placed 82nd with a time of 17:32.5.