-Messenger photo by Britt Kudla Thatcher Oswald of Manson NW Webster compete in the 5k run during 1A districts on Thursday in Jewell

JEWELL — The Manson Northwest Webster cross country team landed two individual qualifiers into the upcoming Class 1A state meet.

Thatcher Oswald was fourth overall to advance while Kate Hildreth finished ninth to earn bids. The 1A state championships will take place Saturday, Nov. 1 from Fort Dodge and Kennedy Park.

St. Edmond just missed out on qualifying, as the Gael girls were third overall by nine points and the boys finished fourth by 13. The Manson Northwest Webster boys placed third.

Both senior Anthony Valles and freshman Grace Schlegel were one spot from advancing as individuals. Valles placed 11th in the boys race in 17:50 while Schlegel did the same in the girls with a time of 21:13.

“It breaks my heart for these kids,” SEHS head coach Mike Szalat said. “I’ve been blessed to coach a kid at state all of these past years because that is an experience some coaches never get to have.

“Anthony battled his way back from an injury and gave it everything he had in his last mile-plus to try and qualify. That final stretch he had was one of the more impressive ones I have ever seen as a head coach and I’m still in awe of it.”

Naomi Valles was 20th in 22:50, Anna Lursen placed 22nd in 23:01, Lily Eslick finished 25th (23:09), Alex Leiting was 42nd (24:34), Betsy Gruver finished 47th (25:12) and Adelyn Bangert was 50th (25:43).

“We had several really strong times and some that just didn’t quite get there,” Szalat said. “We reminded the kids as coaches after that there are always more important things in life, and even though this stinks, you have to put it into perspective.”

Jonah Carlson was 31st in 19:17 followed by Andrew Barwin in 32nd in 19:24. Gordon Seeden finished 34th (19:26), Erik Larson was 36th (19:30) and Ethan Cibert finished 75th (21:48).

“Jonah became an incredible leader,” Szalat said. “I’m going to miss his discussions with his teammates and how he led them. Anthony did an incredible job of leading by example, and it was great that Anna was able to come back out and provide more leadership to our team.

“But I’m also excited about what we have coming back with all of our young runners.”

Along with Hildreth, Raygin Anderson was 18th in 22:41 and Hayden Oswald placed 27th in 23:17 for the Cougars. Payton Petersen was 32nd (23:35), Caroline Peterson was 46th (25:11) and Nora Nelson finished 52nd (25:45).

Manson Northwest Webster was fifth overall.

For the Cougar boys, Kyle Widlund placed 15th in 18:09 and Rowan Poutre was 18th in 18:28. Logan Meyer was 45th (19:54), David Nelson finished 60th (20:48), John Hyink was 71st (21:30) and Brady Messerly was 74th (21:38).

Alex Davis of Ankeny Christian Academy led a 1-2-3 finish for his team, as they moved on along with North Butler. For the girls, Katelyn Brandhorst of Madrid was first as they qualified along with Alta-Aurelia.