Grundy Center junior Emerson Vokes crossed the finish line in 15:34, and won the individual title at Thursday’s North Iowa Cedar League Cross Country Championships at Jesup Golf & Country Club.
It wasn’t a PR, but Vokes achieved a goal of being the conference champion after coming up short last year.
“Coming up runner-up last year, I just wanted to get the title, and I did,” Vokes says. “I thank God for every step of the way, the growth and the hard summer miles and the workouts and long runs and all that work that got put in to be able to come out here, and even on my legs didn’t feel great, I still came out here and I performed how I wanted to, and I got the win. At the end of the day, I finished the race on empty and I went out with the most guts.”
The Spartans placed 12th as a team.
Dike-New Hartford’s Bryan Munguia-Chavez helped lead the Wolverines to a fourth place team finish, and earned second-team all-conference honors with a 14th place finish in 17:39.
“It’s a big difference from last year, coming out here competing at conference again,” Munguia-Chavez says. “A whole different team, and being our number one runner, I just try to get out strong and set an example for my teammates.”
Teammate Sully O’Neill placed 30th to earn all-conference honorable mention.
Aplington-Parkersburg’s Ty Luhring placed 24th to earn honorable mention, as did Hayden Starr and Gavin Runyon of South Hardin in 23rd and 25th. The Falcons placed 13th and the Tigers placed fifth.
In the girls race, Grundy Center’s Grace Storjohann ran 19:50 to place fourth, her highest conference meet finish to earn first-team all-conference honors. She says it’s been a resilient season after battling some illnesses in the spring and summer.
“I placed a lot better than I did last year, and my times overall have been so much better this year, so made me really happy, especially because I didn’t know if I was gonna have a cross-country season this year,” Storjohann says. “The doctors told me that they didn’t know if I’d be able to run at all, and then definitely not if I would run faster or if I would even be able to run like varsity times again. Then here I am placing better than I ever have. I’m individually ranked and I’m just having the best season of my life, and I’m having fun, that’s what matters.”
Evelyn Geerdes placed 26th to earn honorable mention, helping the Spartans to a fifth place team finish.
Aplington-Parkersburg’s Quinnlyn Schultz placed 20th in 21:14 to earn second-team all-conference honors.
“It’s just super fun, looking back the past few years,” Schultz says. “I hadn’t gotten all-conference, and that didn’t bother me too much, but still just kind of was in the back of my head that I wanted to go out on an all-conference level. I thought freshman year was kind of it for me. It was like my year, and then this year, I could just better that. So that was really exciting. But we had a good day of weather. It was a little windy, but we have a really good group of conference girls that push you, especially in the top 20 and 30.”
The Falcons placed ninth as a team.
Dike-New Hartford was led by Hanna Steffen’s 23rd place finish to earn honorable mention. The Wolverines placed eighth.
Mya Wilaby of South Hardin placed 21st for honorable mention honors.
The teams will now turn their attention to next week’s state-qualifying meets.
Emerson Vokes interview:
Bryan-Munguia-Chavez interview:
Grace Storjohann interview:
Quinnlyn Schultz interview:
