Gr. Co. and P-C to Panorama for qualifying meet

Cross country teams from Greene County and Paton-Churdan have both been assigned to Panorama for the state qualifying meet to be held on Oct. 23. Since both 1A and 2A competitions will be held there, the event will start at 3:30 p.m. Thirty 1A schools will have at least one athlete competing at the Lake Panorama Golf Course, and 14 teams were assigned there for Class 2A. Why the difference? There are a lot more schools listed for the 1A race, but many do not have enough girls or boys to enter the team competition. Even though there will be more schools represented in 1A, there many be just as many runners in the 2A race, as most of the larger schools will enter seven runners in both the boys and girls races.

The Panorama girls are ranked sixth in Class 1A and will be pushed by Griswold who is ranked seventh and Underwood who is ranked tenth. Rolling Valley conference champion Exira/EHK is also in the field. Several 1A girls ranked in the top 20 statewide will run at Panorama including Karly Larson of Underwood, Hannah Appleseth and Devyn Kemble of Panorama, and Rebecca Topham from Griswold, who is the state's top ranked female in the class. The Nodaway Valley boys team is currently ranked third, while Tri-Center Neola is ranked seventh, and Ogden is listed eighth in Class 1A. Trey Thompson of Ogden is ranked fifth, and Shane Brehemy from Nodaway Valley is listed in the top 20. Rolling Valley Conference champion Cale Billheimer from Adair-Casey is also in the field. 

North Polk and Greene County girls teams are both ranked in Class 2A and both assigned to the Panorama site. The two teams raced recently at Saydel, and the Comets edged the Rams by a few points, so it should be very competitive. West Central Valley could also challenge both of those teams. Amelia Lesher from North Polk is the only girl currently ranked in the state's top 30. On the boys side, sixth ranked Shenandoah and tenth ranked Eagle Grove will run at Panorama. The top three girls and boys teams in 1A and 2A at each qualifying meet will go on to the state cross country meet in Fort Dodge on November 1. Individuals can also make the state meet by being one of the top 10 runners in their class at a qualifying meet.