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District win sending City High boys to state
by Matthew Dickinson, sports editor · Sports · October 30, 2024
A year ago, the Iowa City boys’ country team qualified just one runner to the Class 4A state meet and narrowly missed advancing as a team with a fourth-place finish.
This year, the 4A No. 3 Little Hawks cruised to a team title with 41 points and had four individual qualifiers at City High’s district meet held Oct. 23 at Crow Creek Park in Bettendorf.
“It was disappointing,” City High Head Coach Jayme Skay said about the team’s narrow miss at districts last season. “We knew we had a good team, we knew we should have qualified for state. But it just didn’t happen, and everything happens for a reason.
“This year, I think that they were definitely focused. I don’t know if we’ve ever talked about we want to go to state, we want to win state. We just told them to enjoy the season. Enjoy every practice, enjoy all the time that we have together. It just kind of helped build them as a team.”
The group progressed tremendously from last season, when City High rebuilt the roster after losing the majority of a core that placed third in the state three years ago before finishing in the middle of the pack at the state meet two seasons ago. All of the members except for graduated senior Owyn Noble, the lone individual qualifier a season ago, returned this year as the Little Hawks shot up the rankings this season.
“It’s not just about running,” Skay said. “We try to tell the kids that. It’s a bigger statement about life, in that you’re going to have ups and downs and struggles. How you deal with them and how you learn from them makes life so much easier for you and makes you so much stronger down the road.”
As they have throughout the season, City High ran in a tight-knit pack to secure the team title. After the second-place effort by Linus McRoberts in 16:08, the next three runners were separated by just six seconds. Max McDowell took fifth in 16:20 while Emmett Palmberg followed in 16:26 for eighth. George Karr also ran a 16:26 and took ninth.
David Randall wrapped up the scorers, placing 17th in 16:42. The sixth and seventh runners also had a close finish, with Jarris Prottsman taking 21st in 17:00 and Adam Schaefer finishing 22nd in 17:01.
“Training-wise, I just feel we’ve been really dialed in,” said City High assistant Ross Salinas. “We joke around, goof around during a recovery run. But when it’s time to get focused and really nail a workout, they’ve been really good a lot.”
Salinas added that the Little Hawks’ 34-second spread between the first and fifth runners is a result of the team training together during the season.
“Every workout, we put them in little groups or partners and they run everything together,” the assistant said. “They nail the splits together, they talk each other through it, they cheer each other on if someone’s having a rough workout. You rarely see a City High guy go across [the finish line] without seeing another one pretty close to them, because that’s just how they train and the way they like to race.”
The Little Hawks, slated to run Friday at 2:45 p.m., entered Fort Dodge projected to win a team trophy with a top-three finish. City High has seen most of the top competition through a highly competitive schedule during the year but the entire roster has not raced on the state course at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.
Skay said that the team will treat the state meet as “part of the journey,” adding that the focus will be on doing what will help the team the most rather than worrying about placing or times.
“It’s a great experience for the young kids, because we’re a fairly yong team,” the coach said. “We have a huge group of underclassmen who are eager to be racing.”
Team scores: 1. Iowa City High 41 2. Waukee 73 3. Bettendorf 73 4. Pleasant Valley 78 5. Linn-Mar 101 6. Muscatine 203 7. Davenport North 217 8. North Scott 231 9. Davenport West 239 10. Burlington 267.
City High results: 2. Linus McRoberts 16:08; 5. Max McDowell 16:20; 8. Emmett Palmberg 16:26; 9. George Karr 16:26; 17. David Randall 16:42; 21. Jarris Prottsman 17:00; 22. Adam Schaefer 17:01.
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