Van Houwling qualifies for state cross country meet

Oskaloosa Indians

Brooke VanHouweling finished 4^th in the district cross country meet at Knoxville qualifying for the state cross country meet to be held next weekend.  VanHouweling ran a time of 16:14 to lead the Indians to a 6^th place finish in the 11-team field.  “I was very pleased with our performance tonight.  Obviously Brooke ran very well.  She has been very focused and looked very comfortable during the race.  She is getting a little stronger each week and I am excited for her to have an opportunity to run at state.  She has had a very good season.  The other girls ran well too.  It is a good group of girls and they have had a very nice season.  We were just a couple of points from 5^th place and this team has the potential to improve tremendously and be one of the qualifying teams next year.  Our top 12 girls all return next year.”  Kelsey Roquet, Steph Smith, Meghan Toubekis, Riley Berg, Lesley Roquet and Angela Hyland were the other runners for the Indians. “ I was happy with all the girls, but I want to single out Meghan, Riley and Lesley who all ran faster times than they did last week on this course.  It is too bad the season is coming to a close, because some of our girls are just started to get in the groove.”

Max Holle led the Indian boys with a 41^st place finish as the Indians finished 13^th in the 13-team field with 335 points.  Alex Hyland and Tyler Wallen finished in 57^th and 64^th place.  “Max ran a very good race tonight running his best time of the year of 18:12.  Alex and Tyler also ran season best times with Alex cracking the 19-minute barrier to finish in 18:57, while Tyler ran 19:21.  Two other runners, Caden Smith and Braden Diggins also ran season-best times.  I was real happy with the effort and the performances.  These boys have steadily improved all season long and to see them do that makes me very proud.  With Max, Tyler and Caden all graduating we will have to add some new bodies next season. Max and Caden have done a nice job of leading the team this year and we will miss them next year as they have been a part of our program since 7^th grade. Tyler did a good job for us in limited action this year and I was glad to see him run well tonight.”