Kee girls cross country team runs to best-ever finish at Class 1A State Meet, brings home third-place trophy in first team qualification since the 1996 season


Two-decade drought gives way to best -ever team finish ... Members of the Kee girls cross country team look toward their fans after being awarded their trophy for their third-place finish in the Class 1A competition of the State Cross Country Meet held at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course near Fort Dodge Saturday, October 28. Having qualified as an entire team for the State Meet season grand finale for the first time since the 1996 season, the Lady Hawks furthered that milestone effort by running to the best finish in team history with their third-place effort among the Class 1A elite. Pictured above, left to right, are junior Katie Brennan, sophomore Makayla Peters, senior Nicki Wood, junior Makayla Walleser, sophomores Laura Colsch and Rachel Walleser and Coach Pat Wagner. View and find out how to purchase this photo and more by clicking on the Photo Galleries link on this website.

The Kee Hawk faithful certainly know their way to Fort Dodge, and for the first time in two decades they were able to make that journey to watch a full team of some familiar faces who have typically performed a few more miles down the road, instead, perform for a few miles...period. That performance, in the Class 1A field of the Iowa High School State Cross Country Meet Saturday, October 28, was not only the first team appearance for the Kee girls cross country team since the 1996 season, but it also turned out to be the best-ever finish for the cross country Lady Hawks in team history, as they ran to a third-place team result among Class 1A’s cross country elite.

With Central tumbling to sixth place in the final Class 1A State Meet standings, another fellow Upper Iowa Conference, South Winneshiek, edged out the defending champion Warriors with a fifth-place team finish. With Central having placed four of its five team-scored runners in front of their Kee counterparts to finish ahead of the Hawks in the final team standings at their Class 1A State Qualifying Meet just over a week earlier, the Warriors were only able to accomplish that same feat on two occasions, with the final three scored Warriors finishing well behind Kee’s packed final four.

For more complete coverage, pick up this week's print edition or subscribe to our e-edition by clicking here.