Volume 10, 2017

NORTH HIGH SCHOOL CROSS COUNTRY

TAYLOR KELLEY’S SWAN SONG.

Emma Kelley, already North High’s Freshman School Record Holder (20:28 last week) and #3 all-time on the School Record Charts, threw herself in the thick of things against some of the best runners in the state, and came away just 9 spots from her first State Meet Qualifying Performance! It is definitely coming though! Last week three SC East girls and one CBAL girl finished ahead of young Kelley. Today, only two East girls could say that. The time might not show her grit, but the fact that she wasn’t afraid of the big name competition shows that great things are headed her way! Kelley finished 24th overall in 20:56! Monica Olson continues to be a beast of some nature! The School’s #7 All-Time 5K runner not only took the second scoring position for the Stars for the first time this season, but she added another PR, running 21:48 for 37th place! She ran 23:37 here last year peeps! Taylor Kelley will be missed. She is simply too much personality not to! The heart and soul of this girls team this year, she was the undisputed glue that held this group together! She truly treated the girls like her family! The Senior finished her awesome career with a 40th place time of 22:08! Mia Norton, already #9 on the school’s All-Time List, definitely found her groove back and it was fun to see her smiling again after the lull she took mid-season. Norton rebounded in an awesome way to run 22:21 for 43rd place! Brenda Phillips hasn’t raced in three weeks after her first injury of her career found her with severe knee pains. She still gutted out what she could despite being hit with a mid-race side cramp, which disrupted her race rhythm, and finishing 48th in 22:58 as our fifth and final scorer. Christina Ly debuted in her first ever Varsity level competition on the biggest stage, and showed why she was there! The Varsity newcomer finished 52nd in 23:16! The Varsity Girls, who last week finished 6th out of 7 teams in the Conference, beating only SC West, responded by finishing 6th out of 9 teams, beating West again and adding CBTJ and Lewis Central to their list of victims! The Girls scored 192 points with a team scoring average of 22:02! Go STARS!

HISTORIC DAY!

It has been a long time coming! In 2004 the Sioux City North Boys XC Team qualified for the State Cross Country Meet where they finished 15th with 510 points and a 17:39 team average. That was the last time a 4A Boys Team from Sioux City qualified for the State Cross Country Meet! Until now!! The Sioux City North Boys XC Family has qualified for the State Cross Country Meet after upsetting #15 Ankeny Centennial for the third and final qualifying spot, finishing behind Dowling Catholic and Waukee! MergaGemeda kick started the day with a second place showing, leaving behind him #2 Camden Cox of Ankeny Centennial, with a school record time of 15:26! Adding fuel to the burning fire of awesomeness was Deven Pace with his 9th place and individual qualifying performance of 16:26, #6 All-Time in school history! The best part of the day came next! Freshman and Varsity Rookie (his first ever TRUE Varsity Race) JaysenBouwers was given a gift to race on this day and he did exactly what you’re supposed to do when that happens. Run out of your MIND!! The Freshman not only broke the school’s Freshman Record by 50 seconds, but managed to finish 13th overall, securing an individual qualifying spot, and helping the team’s score in the process, all while running an incredible 16:30; incredible considering only two weeks ago he went under 18 minutes for the first time ever! He now sits #7 on the school’s All-Time List! Then came the most important part Jackson Baker had himself a 400+ meter long battle with Ankeny Centennial’s 4th runner! But Ankeny Centennial’s 4th runner is no Jackson Baker! Baker, a 56 second 400-meter hurdler (yeah, he’s legit!) on the track, used his brutal speed and strength combination to hold off the Centennial runner, all the while going under 17 minutes for the first time in his career running 16:54 for 20th place! Then Drake Beller happened! Beller was a full gap behind a duo of Ankeny Centennial runners who were using each other to push the pace. Beller didn’t care. He knew he was a top 5 scorer for the Stars and he knew even more how important it was to catch both runners. Beller put on a clear 600 meter surge, breaking the pack then running away from both Centennial athletes, again running a personal best, and ensuring he finish ahead of the Centennial #5 runner in the process! Beller ran an incredible 17:01, another 14 second drop from a guy who just can’t stop running PRs! Finishing just behind the Centennial characters was Dakota South who is already licking his chops when it comes to his goals for next season! South popped an 18 second PR to run 17:16 and placing 6 Stars in the top 25 with his 25th place finish! LamiGemeda had an aggressive first mile, and though he felt the pain, he still pushed on and finished 43rd in 17:56! The STARS scored 66 points and had a team average of 16:28, #1 All-Time in school history! The Stars edged out centennial by 4 points, cementing themselves in the Top 15 conversation as State Meet Qualifiers! Go STARS!!

Volume 10, 2017

STATE CROSS COUNTRY MEET

WHEN – SATURDAY, OCTOBER 28TH

WHERE – LAKESIDE MUNICIPAL GOLF COURSE, FORT DODGE, IA

TRANSPORTATION– BUS LEAVES FROM NHS COMMONS THURSDAYAT 7:15AM!!

Order of Events

Volume 10, 2017

11:00 – Class 4A Girls: Lauren Van Dyke, Olivia Barnes (SC East)

11:30 – Class 4A Boys: Cole Taylor (SC East), North Boys (Gemeda, Gemeda, Baker, Beller, Pace, South, Bouwers)

Please save the following date:

North XC End of Season Celebration and Awards Banquet

Thursday, October 26th 6-8 pm

North Middle School Commons

This is an awesome event and the only real way to celebrate the LONG and awesome growth of the team! RSVP slips will be coming to the students later next week to help Coach plan for food purposes! Please come and bring guests!