Theisen wins district championship

(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) Le Mars' Maddie Theisen leads the pack en route to her first place finish in the cold, rainy weather at Thursday's district meet at Algona. [Click to enlarge]

Le Mars junior Maddie Theisen had one goal in mind at Thursday afternoon's district cross country meet in Algona - finishing in the top 10 and advancing to state.

Theisen managed a little better than just a top 10 finish as she claimed the district championship with her 15:53 first place finish.

(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) Le Mars' Gage Sitzmann races across the finish line in fourth place Thursday afternoon at Algona. The junior's finish earned him a berth to run at state next Saturday. [Click to enlarge]

"It's about mental toughness," Theisen said. "Knowing that the end is coming, I just wanted to get up there. I knew I wanted to go to state, so I just kept that in my mind."

As the district champion, Theisen - ranked fourth in Class 3A - will advance to the state cross country meet on November 1 in Fort Dodge. The junior has consistently improved on her speed since last season, where she placed 12th at state after running a fourth place 17:14 at the Estherville course for districts.

"Maddie continued strong competition, finishing the regular season with all victories except two - both second place finishes," Le Mars coach Amy Kelly said. "Last year, Maddie first broke 16 minutes at the Unity meet. This year, she's broken 16 minutes at every meet."

(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) Le Mars' Rene VanWyhe battles his way to the finish line despite a foot injury that sidelined him in recent weeks. The junior finished 59th in Thursday's district race at Algona. [Click to enlarge]

As far as her personal improvement goes, Theisen said, "I feel more strong [than last year]."

At state, the junior expects to see some tough competition. "I'm ready to challenge them," she said.

The second runner to finish for Le Mars was Kristen Ahlers. The sophomore crossed 21st in 17:04 to help the Lady Bulldogs to a seventh place team finish.

(Sentinel photo by Bethany Kroeze) Le Mars' Kristen Ahlers edges past her competitors Thursday afternoon at districts in Algona. [Click to enlarge]

Becca Clay was 36th as she clocked a time of 17:36 in the race. Andrea Kelly ran the course in 17:54 to finish 45th while Catie Meis was 46th in 17:57.

Hannah Steen crossed the finish line in 19:01 to place 64th overall while Katharine Robotham was 69th in 19:55.

"Conditions at districts were like late cross country meets can get - cold, wet and dreary," Kelly said of the race. "But with everyone battling the same conditions, places become all-important. It was a strong district with good competition."

The district was won by seventh-ranked Ballard with 71 points. Ballard featured two runners in the top 10. No. 14 Estherville-Lincoln Central/Armstrong-Ringstead was second with 86 points while No. 11 Sioux City Heelan was third with 113.

Le Mars was seventh overall with 146 points, just six points behind the host Algona.

On the boys' side, the Bulldogs were led by Gage Sitzmann. The junior - ranked No. 14 in 3A - paced himself to a fourth place finish in 16:50 to advance to state.

The district champion was Algona's Chad Rutedge, who crossed neck-in-neck with teammate Ryan McMahon in 16:13 with Spencer's Taylor Chapman finishing third in 16:14.

The next two Bulldog runners just missed the top 10 cut to advance to state as Alex Rasmussen and Chris Clay crossed the finish line in 12th and 13th places, respectively. Rasmussen clocked in at 17:18 while Clay finished in 17:20.

Rene VanWyhe - who missed the last several meets due to a stress fracture in his foot - got clearance from his doctor early in the week to run at the district meet in Algona. The junior finished the course in 18:57 to claim 59th place.

"Rene had a pretty gutsy performance considering he was running on that injury," Le Mars coach Al Engebretson said. "I told him I was really proud of his efforts and that a lot of people would not even attempt to do [what he did]. He came out and ran to the best of his ability for the team. I was pretty proud of him."

Joe Herzberg was just a few spots behind VanWyhe, clocking in at 19:07 to finish 64th.

"Joe had a good season and I was proud of his efforts," Engebretson said. "I can say that for the whole team as well. They made strides to become a better team."

Rounding out the runners for Le Mars were Ivan Theisen and Ben Bauman. Theisen finished in a personal best 19:36 to place 72nd while Bauman was 81st in 20:14.

The Bulldogs finished seventh as a team with 152 points.

"Overall, this has been the best season we've had since I've been coaching," Engebretson said. "When I see three boys from Le Mars finishing in the top 13, the only other school that can claim that was Algona, that means our top-enders were doing really well."

"I've really enjoyed having Alex the last four years and I would have love to have seen him run at state," he added, talking of the lone senior on the squad.

The top three teams in the district - who will advance to state - were the host Algona - ranked seventh in 3A - with 38 points, 12th-ranked Garner-Hayfield with 88 points and 15th-ranked MOC-Floyd Valley with 110 points.

Although the Bulldog squad did not advance to state, Engebretson said he is still proud of their performance and excited for Sitzmann to advance. "It's good to be taking someone to state," he said. "I knew we had a good shot at getting Alex and Chris there. They were right in the mix, but they fell just a few seconds short."

While the season is over for most of the Le Mars runners, Maddie Theisen and Sitzmann will both be in action a week from Saturday on November 1 at the state cross country meet at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. The 3A girls' race will be at noon with the 3A boys' race at 12:30 p.m.

Boys' Team Standings: 1 - Algona, 38; 2 - Garner-Hayfield, 88; 3 - MOC-Floyd Valley, 110; 4 - Bishop Heelan Catholic, 121; 5 - Charles City, 131; 6 - Spencer 137; 7 - LeMars, 152; 8 - Ballard, 167; 9 - Clear Lake, 247; 10 - Forest City, 252; 11 - Storm Lake, 281; 12 - Iowa Falls-Alden, 336; 13 - Estherville Lincoln Central-AR, 433.

Boys' Individual Standings: 1 - Chad Rutedge, Algona, 16:13; 2 - Ryan McMahon, Algona, 16:13; 3 - Taylor Chapman, Spencer, 16:14; 4 - Gage Sietzmann, LeMars, 16:50; 5 - Paul Yak, Storm Lake, 16:54; 6 - Sean Guthmiller, MOC-Floyd Valley, 16:58; 7 - Ben Lau, Garner-Hayfield, 17:02; 8 - Nate McKewon, Bishop Heelan Catholic, 17:06; 9 - Alex Kenne, Algona, 17:06; 10 - Kyle Walker, Algona, 17:08.

Girls' Team Standings: 1 - Ballard, 71; 2 - Estherville-LC-AR, 86; 3 - Sioux City Bishop Heelan, 113; 4 - Garner-Hayfield, 116; 5 - Charles City, 135; 6 - Algona 140; 7 - LeMars, 146; 8 - Spencer, 151; 9 - Clear Lake, 178; 10 - MOC-Floyd Valley, 270; 11 - Storm Lake, 289.

 Girls' Individual Standings: 1 - Maddie Theisen, LeMars, 15:53; 2 - Kaylene Letting, Sioux City Bishop Heelan, 15:56; 3 - Lauren Opp, Garner-Hayfield, 16:01; 4 - Melony McDermott, Garner-Hayfield, 16:01; 5 - Ashley Loerts, Spencer, 16:02; 6 - Lauren Eckert, Sioux City Bishop Heelan, 16:20; 7 - Jessie Wheeler, Ballard, 16:21; 8 - Sammy Jensen, Ballard, 16:24; 9 - Brittany Ross, Estherville-LC-AR, 16:27; 10 - Amber Wood, Charles City, 16:29.