GLENWOOD — The Perry cross country teams ran in a Class 3A State Qualifying Meet Thursday, with the brightest highlight coming from one of the youngest runners competing.
Freshman Jaylene Karolus finished 10th overall in the girls race, thereby securing a spot at the Oct. 27 meet at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge. Karolus will be the first Jayette to run at the state meet since Grace Stewart in 2015, with Daphne Baumgartner’s appearance in 2009 with most recent before Stewart.
“Jaylene is a strong worker and very motivated, but, like the other girls on the team, she isn’t a real vocal type,” head coach Ryan Marzen said. “She followed the game plan coach (Scott) Pierce and I put together for her and ran it perfectly. I knew after her first mile she was in good shape and knew after two miles she was going to qualify.”
Karolus finished the three-mile course in 20 minutes, 44.7 seconds. The top 15 individuals earned the right to advance, with the 10-15 finishers separated by less than seven seconds.
Harlan and host Glenwood, ranked 6-7, placed 1-2 with 58 and 70 points, respectively. Glenwood had tied with their arch-rival, Atlantic, but earned the second spot when the sixth Ram crossed 26th and the sixth Trojan 27th, but both teams advanced. Perry was ninth among 10 teams with 217 points.
Top-ranked Gilbert scored 32 points to win the boys race, with Atlantic edging No. 15 Glenwood, 87-89, for second place as both advanced. Perry was ninth in a 12-team race with 250 points.
Marzen noted the Glenwood course had a long climb between the first and second mile, with the last third of the race almost completely downhill.
“We wanted Jaylene to get out to a strong start and she did,” Marzen said. “I wanted her to be in a position where she wouldn’t get caught up in a pack, and she could have easily fallen back to 17th or 18th if she had when you look at how close the final six runners were. I have always believed you cannot win at race at the beginning, but you can lose it, and her strong start saved her today.”
Third-ranked Glenwood senior Janette Scraft won in 18:42.74, with sixth-rated sophomore Taylor McCreedy was sixth in 19:14.78.
Sophomore Kailey Crawford was 39th in 23:25.83 for Perry, with junior Molly Lutmer 51st in 24:20.84. Sophomores Cris Gomez and Kennedy Tunink were 58-59 in 25:23.23 and 25:26.85, respectively as the fourth and fifth Perry scorers.
Freshman Kanyshai Abdieva was 63rd in 27:08.85 and junior Hannah Peterson 64th in 27:44.47 were also in action for Perry.
The boys winner was top-rated junior Rees Tyler of Gilbert (16:21.7) while fourth-ranked sophomore Nate Mueller of ADM (16:29.05) was second. The final qualifying spot (15th) was 17:47.96 in the 81-runner field.
Eduardo Sanchez paced Perry by crossing 30th in 18:38.52, with Mohamed Abdelnabi 42nd in 19:10.24 while Ethan Miller was 57th in 19:45.39. Hayden McFarland finished in 59th place in 19:51.65, with Mario Cruz 62nd in 20:05.04. Tomas Lopez (70th, 20:59.34) and Eli Noble (71st, 21:14.67) ran for the Bluejays as well.
Cruz, Miller, Noble and Sanchez, are all seniors and ran their final races as Jays, with Abdelnabi, Lopez and McFarland all juniors.
“The boys ran well tonight,” Marzen said. “I liked the effort they showed. They worked hard all year for us.”
Marzen noted Karolus is also a member of the Perry swim team, and praised her dual-sport training for aiding in her success.
“I think the work she gets with coach Jean Dowd helps her stamina,” he said. “Swimming is a great exercise to help success in running, and maybe the other way, too. I have no doubt it has helped her.”
“There isn’t much training you can do in the final week,” Marzen said. “We will break down the course and begin to prepare for the mental challenge of running in a race when everyone around you is at a high level. I have no doubt she (Karolus) will have a great result.”
