(Photo courtesy of Storm Lake Pilot-Tribune) Le Mars’ Maddie Theisen nears the finish line during her fourth-place run at the district meet Thursday in Estherville. [Click to enlarge]

Le Mars Community sophomore Maddie Theisen overcame soggy conditions and some of the best competition state-wide to punch her ticked to Fort Dodge Thursday at a Class 3A district cross country meet in Estherville.

Theisen clocked in 17:14 to place fourth overall, beating out a pair of state-ranked runners en route to qualifying for next weekend’s state meet.

Estherville-Lincoln Central’s 21st-ranked Brittany Ross was the individual meet champion in 16:57, followed by 20th-ranked Ashley Loerts of Spencer in 17:02 and ELC’s Brooke Egeland in third at 17:12.

(Photo courtesy of Spencer Daily Reporter) Le Mar’s Alex Rasmussen sloshes through the mud Thursday at the regional meet in Estherville. Rasmussen finished 17th overall, improving on a 28th-place finish in 2006. [Click to enlarge]

Theisen began the race in the top 10 and steadily moved up, beating out Spirit Lake Park’s 25th-ranked Christina Hanson in 5th (17:18) and 19th-ranked Carrie Emgarten in sixth (17:25).

“Maddie’s race was wonderful. She started somewhere between seventh and 10th, later moved into fifth and then fourth,” Le Mars coach Amy Kelly said. “She beat a couple state-ranked girls that she had not beaten yet and she ran a real strong race, had a good finish.”

Theisen was a fixture in the top 10 at meets all season and continued to climb the ranks Thursday. Her time of 17:14 was actually a second slower than her district clocking of 2006, but her 4th-place finish was well ahead of a 39th-place run last year.

“I was amazed,” Kelly said. “She just kept moving up in the ranks. It shows she’s peaking and getting stronger and better all the time. And to beat a couple girls that have consistently beaten her all season - that’s pretty cool.”

Theisen will be the first Le Mars Community girl to compete at the state meet since 1999.

“She’s excited and looking forward to next Saturday,” Kelly said. “It was all pretty exciting.”

The rest of the Lady Bulldogs did not fair quite as well, struggling against an already-difficult course made much harder by the rain and mud.

Le Mars was also short two varsity regulars, with Andrea Kelly and Nikki Sluiter moving up from the JV to compete Thursday.

“I was very happy they stepped up and ran with the group,” Kelly said. “They both were willing to run and it ended up we needed them to. So we had a senior, a junior, two sophomores and three freshmen running today. It was a young team, but a great experience for them.”

Le Mars finished 10th in the 12-team field with 255 points. Fourth-ranked ELC was the team champion with 47 points, followed by second-ranked Spirit Lake Park with 61 and 10th-ranked Sioux City Heelan with 73.

For Le Mars, Kristen Ahlers followed Theisen in 60th place with a time of 20:47. Megan Meis was next in 62nd with a time of 21:01, Bre Engebretson was 65th in 21:20, Andrea Kelly 67th in 21:33, Sluiter 68th in 21:36 and Jess Kelly 71st in 21:54.

The night was not so great for the Le Mars boys team and state hopeful Alex Rasmussen.

Rasmussen needed to make the top 10 to earn a state berth and fell short, crossing 17th in 18:02.

While Theisen was able to overcome the elements Thursday, Rasmussen was dealt a blow that may have cost him his place in Fort Dodge.

“The middle of the race he was running somewhere between 11th and 13th. They had to run down a steep hill and a kid running behind Alex kind of gave him a shove and he went down, lost some time there,” Le Mars coach Al Engebretson said. “He’s probably a little disappointed, but we knew the competition was good. He still ran well and really made a good effort.”

Rasmussen’s time of 18:02 was much slower than his 16:45 at the regional meet a year ago, but - like Theisen - the slower time did not equal a lower finish as the junior improved on a 28th-place run in ‘06.

The field was loaded with four state-ranked teams and no less than five individually ranked runners. Algona - ranked 11th in 3A - was the meet champion with 80 points, followed by fourth-ranked Spirit Lake in second with 80 as well. Third-ranked Spencer was third with 82 points and Garner-Hayfield finished fourth with 100, clipping fifth-ranked Sioux City Heelan in fifth with 120.

“Heelan was ranked fifth in the state and they finished fifth at our district,” Engebretson said. “That shows how good this district was. We competed pretty well and I was real happy with the step up we made from a year ago.”

The Bulldogs were seventh in the field with 178 points, well ahead of eighth-place Clear Lake at 236.

“I’m fairly pleased with that. I challenged the guys to get into the top half, because four of the teams were ranked,” Engebretson said. “We ended up seventh out of 12 teams, so I was pretty happy with our effort.”

The race was won by Garner-Hayfield’s 14th-ranked Aaron Siegrist in 17:02.3, followed closely by Algona’s third-ranked Ryan McMahon in second at 17:02.8. Algona’s 18th-ranked Chad Rutledge was third in 17:05.

Rene VanWhye was second for the Bulldogs, capping his first cross country season with a 24th-place finish in 18:33. Nathaniel Tonner was 44th in 19:16, Chris Clay 45th in 19:21, Cody Engebretson 48th in 19:28, Martin Roesch 52nd in 19:32 and Matt Baehler 60th in 19:59.

The Bulldogs are a young team with several runners coming back - including Rasmussen - and it was far from a somber ride home, Engebretson said.

“We were already talking about next year and the things we needed to do to take it to the next level. We’ve stepped it up and we’re in the middle of the pack now, knocking on the door,” Engebretson said. “We know what we need to do and that’s change our mind-set. We need to work a little harder to get to that next level.”

Boys Team Standings

Algona 80; Spirit Lake Park 80; Spencer 82; Garner-Hayfield 100; Sioux City Heelan 120; Storm Lake 133; Le Mars 178; Clear Lake 236; Sergeant Bluff-Luton 248; Forest City 259; Estherville-Lincoln Central 295; Iowa Falls-Alden 334.

Girls Team Standings

Estherville-Lincoln Central 47; Spirit Lake Park 61; Sioux City Heelan 73; Garner-Hayfield 109, Iowa Falls-Alden 125; Spencer 158; Algona 200; Forest City 209; Storm Lake 238; Le Mars 255; Clear Lake 286; Sergeant Bluff-Luton inc.