Area sophomores punch tickets to state

By Kristi Nixon

MANLY — Riceville sophomore Claire Zweibohmer and St. Ansgar sophomore Lila Powers ran the best times of their careers to reserve a spot in the Class 1A state cross country meet this week at Fort Dodge’s Kennedy Park.

Zweibohmer nearly broke 20 minutes, coming across the line in 20:00.1 to finish runner-up, and though she said she’s tapered, she feels she can do even better at the state meet.

“Feels great,” Zweibohmer said. “I don’t know, I just pushed harder in practice, my mindset changed.”

Running a close third for much of the race behind North Iowa’s Lauren Hillesland, she kicked in during the final home stretch to take runner-up behind only Nashua-Plainfield’s Kadence Huck, who crossed in 19:38.1.

“I was coming close to her,” Zweibohmer said, “and I was like, ‘You know, might as well just get second.’”

Her coach, Bryce Conway, said that the improvements of not only Zweibohmer, but his three other runners was exceptional.

“Really humbled by the improvements each of these runners had this year,” he said. “Claire really got after it today from the start of the race to the finish. She ran a perfect race and I thought the one mile to two mile stretch for her to maintain rhythm and pace was what propelled her to finishing second in front of many strong runners that had finished ahead of her throughout the season.

“With a good week of preparation, Claire has a shot to medal down at state, although making it was an accomplishment in itself after finishing 13th at the state qualifier last year. Really proud of her…”

Powers also ran a PR in 20:22.4 to finish eighth and advance. She had a lot of family and friends throughout the course who were updating her of her status, including letting her know there was a pack of three from South Winneshiek, who were closing in.

“There was definitely a lot of pressure,” Powers said. “I ran the first mile at 6:08 – that’s what my watch was at. That’s way faster than I have ever ran it. And, I knew where I wanted to be for place, so I was where I wanted to be, and maybe a little further back than I wanted to be. I knew I couldn’t slow down because I didn’t want to lose any places….”

The full story and more photos will be found in the Oct. 25 print and e-editions of the Enterprise Journal.