Koester takes 97th out of 149 1A runners at State CC

Eagle Grove’s Jon Koester made his second straight appearance at the State Cross Country Meet last Saturday at the Lakeside course in Fort Dodge. The sophomore finished 97th out of 149 Class 1A runners with a time of 18:10.6. Riley Bauer of North Union was the individual champion at 16:14.2, with Nodaway Valley taking the team title followed by Bellevue and Madrid.

“Jon had a great week of practice leading up to the meet, and I was cautiously optimistic about the outcome for him,” stated head coach Ben Demuth. “I know he had high goals and aspirations, and I am hopeful he learned as much about himself as he possibly could as a result. It is difficult to have to prepare by yourself, and so thankfully a few of his classmates came out and ran with him this past week. We focused on some of the little things that would happen at the meet, but really did not put a lot of pressure or emphasis on anything major about his run. I didn’t want him to go out and under perform, and thus we really did not overthink anything other than show up and run. Jon is a pretty even keel kid, and nothing gets him rattled, and that is what I like about his work ethic. We coach him up and he responds in a positive manner. I thought it was real important that those kids that worked out with Jon saw that as well, because we are hopeful to return as a team next year and those guys will be a part of making that happen.”

Read the full story in the November 2 edition.