.jpg)
The State meet can bring out the best performances for many athletes, clocking big PR's and making the podium. Take a look at who made some big jumps into the All-Stater's in the 4A class this year and how their improvements impacted their teams.
On the girls' side Mia Rampton of Dubuque Senior High School had the biggest improvement of all of the top 15 runners. Mia finished in 101st place in 2016 and improved 90 spots to finish in 11th place this year. Her PR before the 2017 season in the 5k was 19:51. This year she ran 18:57 at Fort Dodge. Mia's sophomore season PR in 2015 in the 5k was 21:52, meaning she has dropped a total of nearly 3-minutes in 2 years. Sydney Schafer of Waukee High School had an impressive freshman year where she finished in 56th place at the state meet. She was able to improved 44 places to finish 12th overall as a sophomore this year. This improvement helped the Waukee Girls finish in 3rd place overall. Mackenzie Michael placed 14th this year for Cedar Falls High School. Last year, she was the 31st finisher overall at the state meet, which is an improvement of 17 places.
The biggest improvement this year on the boys' side was Anthony Pena of Pleasant Valley. He finished in 49th place in 2016 and moved up 38 places in 2017 to finish in 11th place. This improvement helped the Pleasant Valley team end up on top of the podium. Sophomore Payton Marrs of Urbandale High School was another runner who moved up 37 spots. He finished in 10th place this year after a 47th place finish last year. His freshman PR was 16:30 and this year he dropped his PR down to 15:45. Tom Altier was another runner who has seen great improvements during his career at Johnston High School. Tom ran a PR of 18:30 as a freshman at the Fort Dodge XC Invitational. He ended his high school cross country career with a PR on the same course of 15:56 and 12th place finish at State, after not even qualifying for the meet as a freshman and sophomore. In his junior year he finished in 44th place, meaning he moved up 32 places this year.
To see the full results from the State Meet, check out our results hub!