STATE XC: Griswold places seventh as a team

No repeat for Tigers, but young squad gets taste of top-flight competition 

By Drew Herron - NT Sports Editor / Nov. 2, 2013

FORT DODGE – There was no repeat for the Griswold girls’ cross-country team this year.

The Tigers didn’t even make their way onto the deck at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge as one of the top three squads in Class 1A. But, Griswold XC coach Jane Chaillie is cool with that.

What she saw unfold Saturday meant more to her than another trophy.

“These girls are a team, and though we didn’t have the team finish we had hoped for, the compassion and the way these girls care for each other is so much more important than anything else,” she said. “I am so proud of these girls.”

Pekin (81) ran incredibly strong and placed its top three runners in the top 10 to handily take the team championship in 1A, while Pocahontas Area (113) and Central Elkader (126) rounded out the top three.

Griswold, who won last year’s title led by individual champion Rebekah Topham and a group that included three seniors, faced an uphill climb with its roster of underclassmen.

And when the Tigers’ No. 2 runner Leah Lappe struggled with the effects of dehydration, dropped to second to last in the field of 127 runners, and ultimately ended up in the medical tent, the rest of the team attempted to pick up the slack.

“As we watched the race unfold and we knew (Lappe) wasn’t at 100 percent, the rest of the girls kind of picked it up and went after it,” coach Chaillie says.

Junior Alyx Flippin finished No. 20 overall (16:14.8), and a pair of freshmen (Alyssa Wyman – No. 47 at 17:12.7 and Joanna Topham – No. 65 – 17:41.1) filled in spots three and four for the Tigers.

Although those numbers don’t stack up favorably at the top this year, it makes for an encouraging sign of things to come for a Griswold team that won’t lose a single runner to graduation from this year to the next.

“The most exciting part is that we don’t graduate anybody,” coach Chaillie says. “We’ve got 13 kids coming back to run here next year…we’re deep that way.”

Of course, getting to the state meet and competing in it could very well pay dividends in the future as a more seasoned lineup will return to the course next year.

Most of these Tigers have ran in crowded races before during the season, but there is nothing quite like the meet in Fort Dodge.

“We only have three girls with state running experience. The rest of the girls, this is their first time here, and this is always a little bit overwhelming when you race here for the first time,” coach Chaillie says. “Just the experience of running here and getting that experience under your belt is going to get these girls fired up to finish it out.”