The women's cross country team finished in sixth place at the State Meet on Saturday in Fort Dodge. The Bombers finished with 176 points.
Ava Vance (19:04.0) finished 7th overall. She was named an All-State performer and had a personal record for the meet. With her performance, Ava is #5 all-time in Ballard women's 5K times.
Brynn Wilson (19:52.50) finished 21st and Annika Larson (20:02.0) finished 26th in the field. Wilson set a personal record in the meet. Ava Richardson has a PR with a time of 20:30.3 finishing in 43rd place. Kya Hermann (81st - 21:21.4), Raya Miller (89th - 22:00.60), and Grace Grundmeyer (96th - 22:25.50) rounded out the Bomber's runners.
Comments From Head Coach Scott Barth:
"The girls competed at state for the 20th time and 10th consecutive year and placed 6th in the state with a total of 172 points. It was a brisk, cold day, but the girls all ran hard and represented Ballard very well.This marks the 6th season in a row with the team placinging in the top 10 of Class 3A, which included a 4 year run of 2 state championships and 2 state runner-up finishes.
Ava Vance capped off her career with a 7th place overall which earned her 1st team all state designation. Ava is an exceptionally dedicated runner and it was really great seeing her make the all-state podium with her PR performance of 19:04. This time moved her up to the #5 position in the Ballard 5k All-Time list. Ava and Katie Tollefson, another senior and alternate for our state team, were exceptional leaders on this team and will be deeply missed. I am glad I have another season with them on the track this spring.
Brynn Wilson surged her way to the end of the season with a 21st place team placing with her PR time of 19:52.5, which is the first time she had broken the 20 minute barrier and moved her into the Ballard 5K all time list at #8. Brynn has shown great growth as a runner over the course of her first 3 seasons at BHS. With this run, she puts herself squarely in position to be one of the top 15-20 runners in class 3A next season.
Annika Larson ran a solid race placing 26th in team scoring with a time of 20:02. Annika entered the season as one of the top returning runners in class 3a, but a nagging injury held her back for most of the season. So, all things considering, she ran a gutsy race and really helped this team with her efforts. We are hoping for a healthy 2024 so that she can show the state that she is one of the top returning runners in our class.
Ava Richardson, much like Annika, entered the race having a nagging injury as well over the course of the last 2 weeks of the season. She was able to run really well considering not being 100% and finished in 43rd place in team scoring with a season best time of 20:30. Ava and Brynn entered the season as pretty comparable runners, so that gives us a glimpse of what she can do next season if healthy.
Freshman Kya Hermann completed her first season at BHS with an 81st place finish with a time of 21:21. The progression of Kya as a runner from her BMS days has been impressive and she handled the pressure of running and scoring at the varsity level very well.
Fellow freshmen Raya Miller and Grace Grundmeyer finished their first season of CC ever at the state meet. Neither of them ran at BMS and they showed tremendous growth over the course of the season. Raya finished with a time of 22:00 and Grace had a time of 22:25. Stepping up and running on a top 6 team in the state as a new freshman is not easy. As coaches we see that all of our freshmen have loads of potential and continue to learn the art of running 5Ks. Their times compare favorably with Brynn Wilson and Ava Richardson's times when they were freshmen. So, I think that bodes well for us next season and throughout their BHS careers.
So, all in all we ran a good race at the state meet. All of the girls ran really hard and with good focus which earned us a 6th place finish at the state meet. I am really proud of these girls and the way they train and focus. They managed the ups and downs of the season really well and I cannot think of a better group of representatives for BHS.
Looking ahead, Brynn, Annika and Ava R will return next season and give us a really solid core to build around. If we can keep them healthy, we could have all three of them in their 19's and the possibility of 18's is not out of the question. They will be supported by the 3 freshmen, Kya, Raya and Grace listed above who are all hard working athletes with lots of upside. We also have some other runners who should also fight for varsity spots in McKenzie Dee, who was not at 100% throughout much of the last 1/2 of the season. Raegan Loewe was sidelined the last few weeks of the season with illness. Both of these girls ran on the state runner-up team last season, so keeping them healthy would be huge. Freshman Harper Wendt also surged throughout the season and earned an alternate spot. So, I don't expect any change in our girls program. We have lots of returning talent and hope the pieces fall into place for another successful 2024 season."
STATE MEET WOMEN'S TEAM SCORES
1. Pella, 80
2. Mount Vernon/Lisbon, 129
3. Gilbert, 129
4. Sioux Center, 155
5. Glenwood, 172
6. Ballard, 176
7. Marion, 208
8. Solon, 209
9. Clear Lake, 209
10. Sioux City Heelan, 225
11. Decorah, 235
12. ADM, 250
13. Lewis Central, 253
14. Harlan, 276
15. Clear Creek-Amana, 332
STATE MEET WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL TIMES
7 Ava Vance, 19:04.0
21 Brynn Wilson, 19:52.50
26 Annika Larson, 20:02.0
43 Ava Richardson, 20:30.30
81 Kya Hermann, 21:21.40
89 Raya Miller, 22:00.60
96 Grace Grundmeyer, 22:25.50
Photo Credit: Kevin Rowedder
