While children ran from door to door getting candy on Halloween, the girls cross country team and Andrew Donovan, ‘16, ran in the State Cross Country meet in Fort Dodge.

The meet was held at Lakeside Golf Course where the women’s team placed third out of 15 teams in the 3A division. Running at state is an experience the girls will not soon forget.

“The course is lined with people, and they are all cheering for you and those around you in the race,” Grace Herber, ’18, said. “After finishing, you don’t even remember running or all the faces you see. It’s an unforgettable experience.”

Herber placed first for the Eagles and 21st overall with a time of 20.03.4.

Ms. Cynthia Wagner, who has successfully coached the women’s team for 40 years, helped the team achieve their ultimate goal: state.

“I believe that the team was so successful this year because they realized that they needed to come into the season well prepared by running quality mileage during the summer months,” Wagner said. “They also knew that they needed to be faithful to weights and abs.  They made the sacrifices necessary to stay healthy and make continuous progress throughout the season.  This team competed very well every meet.”

On the boys’ side of things, Andrew Donovan placed 25th individually out of 138 runners in the 3A men’s race. Donovan faced an additional challenge: running without his team.

“Running a cross country race as an individual and as a team are totally different,” Donovan said. “When I have my team behind me, I have motivation to keep going. I have had the most success at state when I’ve been there with my team. As an individual, it just requires a lot more focus and determination to keep going. When running with a team, I run for my team.”

Donovan is very humble about his success despite being an exceptional athlete. 

“My reason for my success comes solely from my team,” Donovan said. “I do not run for myself or for my success. I run because I love my team, and I have fun with the team. I don’t like letting my team down, so I do everything in my power to put my team in the best position to be successful. It just so happens that doing that brings my own success.”

Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams were prepared for districts held at Oneota Golf & Country Club in Decorah.

The men’s team ran Donovan, Luke Blosch, Trenton Dodds, Jacob Berning, Nathan Tranel, Davis Flogel and Michael Olk. They finished fourth, just 14 points away from qualifying for state.

The women’s team swept districts, running Hanna Meyer, Jade Romagna, Sarah Mockler, Emma Earles, Grace Herber, Kaylee Osterberger and Gracie Long. The team placed first at districts, qualifying for state.

“I was extremely nervous to run at districts because I knew we all had to run our bests to make state, and I had just gotten into varsity so I didn’t think I would do well,” Long said. “It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be because once I started running, I was determined to stay with Sarah (Mockler).”