IHSA Iowa State Meet
Saturday, October 28, 2006 - Fort Dodge, Iowa
Results from onlineraceresults.com
4A Results - 3A Results - 2A Results - 1A Results
NEW! - Story by Brian Peterson
Highlights
Course reported in good shape, dry with good footing. Weather good, cool (around 45-50 degrees during 4A races) with only a slight breeze but a great day for running fast. The course is accurate but fairly easy with two mild gradual hills in mile three and the rest very flat.
No One Can 'Stop Dak' ... or Flood
Iowa City Girls Rule Again; Pleasant Valley over Marshalltown
Story by Brian Peterson
Stephen Dak may not be sure if he wants to compete again this fall (translation: it would mean that he would forfeit Foot Locker competition), but he definitely capped off his senior season against Iowa harriers with quite a bang.
In modestly chilly and breezy conditions Dak, a native of Sudan and now a Marshalltown senior, obliterated the Iowa boys 4A field in Fort Dodge, winning by 58 seconds in 15:05 (which tied the course record). In doing so, Dak successfully repeated as the 4A champion and, for sure, left spectators at Kennedy Park wondering if a similar talent would come around in the next decade or so. That is highly questionable.
In terms of doing battle against out of state competition in November – which so many of us desperately want to see – this reporter is not positive that Dak is even aware that competition actually exists outside of Iowa. “I'm not sure,” he answered when I questioned if Foot Locker was on his calendar for next month. He also had never heard of dyestat.com (which I then felt obliged to enlighten him) and had not yet given consideration to his goals for the upcoming track season.
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Probably never one to become a distance running junkie, Dak has simply run hard for the Bobcats, seems to be extremely unassuming, and is likely only trying to fit into the American culture. We need to tell him that the numerous T-shirts at the State Meet which said “Stop Dak” are of no insult to him, but just a play on those in the early 70s who humorously endeavored to “Stop Pre.”
Yet in the boys 4A team race, Pleasant Valley was able to “Stop” Marshalltown's bid to make up for last year's disappointment (when they were third). We have to remember that the 58 seconds between Dak and Pleasant Valley's Devin Allbaugh (who was second in 16:03 and owns a 9:21 3200m) is only a one point difference in scoring.
Put simply, Pleasant Valley was able to claim their first-ever state cross country title by bunching their 2-5 runners a little further up the pack than Marshalltown, who came on stronger at the end but simply ran out of yards. Regarding his team, Pleasant Valley coach Erik Belby told the Quad City Times, “They knew they had their hands full, but they were determined to get it done. This year was more a mission to redeem themselves after getting 13th here last year. I told them before the race that in the last half-mile, every point was going to count. I didn’t want to spend the 4½ hours driving home talking about that one point. They listened to me, but more important, they believed.”
On the girls’ 4A side, freshman Katie Flood of Dowling Catholic ran to an expected early lead and never looked back, winning in 14:11. What may have prevented her from setting a State Meet record (14:05) were insistent cramps that were seen affecting her at about 3k.
“This was probably the hardest race of this season,” Flood told the Des Moines Register. “I’m excited. It was a lot of hard work, but it paid off in the end. This was a new experience. The conditions were bad, but I had to fight through it.” (It should be noted that the Fort Dodge course is an open golf course type setting and the Iowa wind can have significant effect on those running solo ahead of the pack).
As for the girl’s 4A team race, three runners in the top 9 for Dowling could not unlock the grip that the eastern Iowa schools have held on the State Meet. Since 1983, the 1996 Cedar Falls team (which is more centrally located) is the only non-eastern school to claim the 4A girls crown. Iowa City High, the Rolls-Royce of the Eastern schools and winners of 11 out of the last 18 4A titles, calmly placed five girls between 10th and 19th, driving home the reality that superb individuals do not necessarily trump having a solid five.
Afterward, City High Coach Tom Mittman remarked: “I thought the girls ran as well as they have all year. They all raced ahead of their state individual rankings and our first six were within 26 seconds of each other. In fact, our first five placed 10-19 and only 16 seconds separated them.”
Dowling may be next year’s pre-season favorite to win, as they lose no one and City High loses two of their top five, but they will still need to find a way to improve the placings of their 4th and 5th runners (this year 43rd and 58th).
In a mild surprise from girls 1A competition, juniors Brooke and Blaire Dinsdale of North Tama failed to duplicate their 1-2 finish of last year. Dacia Bushman of Valley Community of Elgin spoiled the Dinsdales’ bid by finishing second (14:42) between Brooke (who repeated as 1A champ in 14:40, the third-fastest overall girls time) and Blaire (who was third in 14:52). One can’t help but wonder if the Dinsdales’ heavy racing schedule this fall (for Blaire it was 12 races in just over 8 weeks), after a spring track season that extended into early August, factored into their state meet sluggishness. After the race Brooke told The Des Moines Register that “I wasn’t feeling the greatest for some reason. I knew I had to stay with her (Bushman).”
Let the Dinsdales get some well-deserved rest and let’s all urge Flood and Dak to test their running prowess against other Midwestern harriers.