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The IHSAA/IGHSAU state cross country meet is scheduled for Friday, Oct. 31 and Saturday, Nov. 1 at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge.

The Class 2A meet will run at 10:30 a.m. for the girls on Friday, followed by the 2A boys race at 11:15.

Grundy Center’s girls team qualified from last Thursday’s state-qualifying meet in Iowa City on a sixth-runner tiebreaker with Tipton.

The race for the third and final spot came down to a head-to-head matchup with Ava Heeren and Tipton’s Averi Jeffries, with Heeren beating Jeffries to the line by two-tenths (.2) of a second to help clinch the Spartans’ spot in Fort Dodge.

Heeren was sixth in the 100-meter dash at the state track meet earlier this year and moved up to the varsity lineup in cross country this fall.

“If I’m close enough to a person in those last 100 meters, I know I’ve got a really good shot of getting them,” Heeren said. “I saw that she was right there in front of me and just took the opportunity to go get her.”

The girls are returning to the state meet for the first time since 2023, where they finished 14th as a team; returning from that team are four-time individual state qualifier Grace Storjohann, as well as juniors Evelyn Geerdes and Makenna Steinmeyer and senior Karlee Lynch.

Storjohann and Geerdes earned individual qualifier status as top-15 finishers; Storjohann was third in 19:57 and Geerdes 11th in 20:57. Maddy Hendershot scored 21st-place points for Grundy, Karlee Lynch 24th and Makenna Steinmeyer 45th to round out the top five.

The climb to the top three was made even steeper with varsity regular Addy Hendershot out of the lineup due to injury, but Storjohann said the Spartans made every point matter at the state qualifier.

“It definitely wasn’t my best race, but it was all about getting our team to state,” Storjohann said. “It wasn’t even just Ava at the end, if any single one of our girls had let one person pass them at the end, we don’t get third in that meet, and Kenna came down to the end and barely beat a girl in front of her. Every single person ended up being right where they needed to be during that race, and finishing it up with Ava was awesome.”

After a strong season of lowering times in above-average temperatures for cross country season, Storjohann is ready to make the leap for that top-15 spot as an individual medalist at the state meet. Her best finish to date was two years ago, finishing 34th as a sophomore.

“I’m feeling really good this week, and I’m just hoping to come to the state meet super healthy and in the best fitness I’ve ever been,” Storjohann said.

Geerdes finished 131st at the state meet as a Spartan freshman two years back but has emerged as one of Grundy Center’s top girls runners.

“I felt this was coming at the end of last year, starting to run with Grace more and just picking up my spot on varsity,” Geerdes said of her growth. “I was ready to do it.”

“I don’t really have any goals going down there but to just run my race for God, because that’s what got me through the last one.”

The girls agreed that if the team can put up personal-best times at the state meet on Friday, the team performance will speak for itself.

“Just leave it all out there,” Heeren said. “I’m happy to be here and have the opportunity to have another week, because the senior class has been really great and it’s another opportunity to spend time with them.”

On the boys’ side, Emerson Vokes takes aim at going back-to-back as individual champion. Vokes is ranked No. 1 amongst 2A boys and finished 30 seconds ahead of the field at the Iowa City state qualifier.

Vokes, who also claimed the state title in the 3,200-meter run at the state track meet this spring, isn’t sweating the increased spotlight as a result of his championship spree.

“It’s just another race,” Vokes said. “A lot of guys want to beat me, but if I just run my race, I’m really confident that I can win again, and obviously throughout the season I’ve shown that I can compete with anyone at the 2A level.”

Jayce Fryslie returns for his second state cross country meet after finishing 46th as a freshman.

“I feel like it was a really hot September this year, so I didn’t start off very good,” Fryslie said. “I like it way cooler. … There’s a lot of hills at state, and last year I always tried to kick it up the hills and 15 seconds after the hills, which helped me gain on a lot of people and helped my time a lot.

Fryslie’s also glad to have freshman Leo Block as part of the individual state qualifiers.

“I hang out with Leo most of the time, and we run very similar times together in races, so it’s cool to be able to run my race right next to him,” Fryslie said.

Block finished 13th at the Iowa City qualifier in 17:26, seven seconds ahead of Fryslie.

“[Emerson and Jayce] really helped me when I didn’t feel like working as hard at practice,” Block said. “Emerson always makes sure we’re running longer and doing a hard workout, and that’s helped me get a lot better over the season.

“It was good to get a PR, but I hope to run a little faster at state to keep improving.”

Dike-New Hartford’s girls will also be part of the Class 2A field; Olivia Petullo (8th place) and Lucy Epley (13th place) had top-15 finishes to lead the Wolverines. Sully O’Neill will represent the Dike-New Hartford boys as an individual runner.