ELDORA — It is going to be another busy state cross country meet for St. Edmond head coach Mike Szalat.

And he wouldn’t want it any other way.

The Gaels qualified both the boys and girls for the upcoming meet while placing five runners in all inside of the Top-9. This marks the 10th consecutive year that the girls advanced as a team with the boys now having gone each of the past four seasons.

“I’m just really happy for the seniors to keep this thing going,” Szalat said. “We have 21 total kids out and each and every single one of them is part of this, pushing their teammates. We ask a lot of them and they really busted their butts.

“We aren’t shy about not having a lot of fun in practice, but the fun we have is with team bonding and the little things we do. And the benefit is getting to race at state.”

On the girls side, St. Edmond tallied 36 points, finishing one ahead of Pekin, while the boys were runners-up to Pekin. Both move on to state, which is set for next Friday in Fort Dodge from Lakeside Golf Course.

Michaela Leiting was fifth with Ellie Knox right behind her in sixth for the Gaels. Hannah Landwehr finished eighth, Anna Lursen was 13th, Nina Smith placed 22nd, Reese Lemberg was 23rd and Andee Barwin 27th.

North Butler’s Addison Voelker won the race in 20:01.1 with Pekin’s Chloe Glosser second and Elizabeth Erickson from Colo-Nesco third.

Leiting, a senior, clocked a time of 21:52.5 with Knox, a junior, crossing at nearly the same in 21:52.6. Landwehr, a senior, was not far behind, finishing in 22:00.9.

Lursen, a sophomore, had a time of 24:11 with Smith finishing in 24:52, Lemberg in 24:59 and Barwin in 25:27. Smith is a ninth-grader while Lemberg and Barwin are both seniors.

“We felt pretty good about the girls getting through with it being between us and Pekin,” Szalat said. “They all went out and really competed well on the toughest course we’ve ever ran on. Not a lot of it was flat but the way we went out there was a credit to our mental toughness.

“We never see anything in terms of competition that we haven’t seen during the year and I feel like that always helps get us ready for districts.”

Valles, a sophomore coming off a victory at the North Central Conference meet, went 17:38.3 to finish only behind Pekin’s Brady McWhirter, who went 17:30.3. Baxter’s Matt Richardson was third.

“That is a really tough kid that beat Anthony, who ran a great race as well,” Szalat said. “As coaches, we do everything we can to get them as prepared as we can for a race like this. I feel like that is something we have done a great job of between myself and (assistant coach) Monica (Shelly).

“But the kids still have to go out and compete, and that is what they did and why I am so proud of them all.”

Liam Shannon, a junior, clocked a time of 18:53.2 for ninth, with senior Thomas Cosgrove placing 13th in 19:33.3. Sophomore Thomas Knobbe was 24th in 20:29, freshman Erik Larson finished 42nd in 21:09, sophomore Jonah Carlson was 46th in 21:16 and freshman Drake Yurkovac was 82nd in 23:51.

Last year, the St. Edmond girls finished seventh at state, two spots ahead of Pekin. Lursen, Leiting, Knox, Landwehr and Barwin were all on that team.

Shannon, Valles, Cosgrove and Knobbe all ran on the eighth place boys squad.

The state 1A girls race will take place at 2 p.m. with the boys at 2:45 p.m. Awards in 1A are scheduled for 3:30 p.m.