Ram junior Noah Hinote will run at the 3A state cross country meet Oct. 28 in Fort Dodge.
The Rams finished eighth overall in the 3A state qualifying meet Wednesday in Winterset. Hinote finished in 18th place with a time of 17:31.10. He trimmed more than 15 seconds off his season-best time of 17:46.29, set at the HOIAC meet last week.
The fastest time of the race was 15.50.90 posted by Ethan Eichhorn of Lewis Central.
The Iowa School Athletic Association implemented new individual qualifying rules this year. The top 15 individuals and the top three teams qualify, but if fewer than five of the top 15 individuals are from non-qualifying teams, the field must be expanded until there are five runners from non-qualifying teams.
The top three teams – Lewis Central, Glenwood and Winterset– qualified for the state meet. Of the top 15 finishes, only #5 Alik Mcilravy of North Polk, #9 Jacob Greving of Kuemper Catholic, and #14 Bennett Whetstone of Atlantic are not on a qualifying team. That left two more slots to be filled. Ryan North of Kuemper finished 16th, and because #17 was Eli Cowman of Winterset (a team qualifier), #18 Hinote got the bid for the state meet.
The 19th finisher, Jackson Cox of Lewis Central, was 1.4 second behind Hinote.
Other Ram places and times were Gavyn Winters, 43rd, 18:59.70; Brady Carstensen, 51st, 19:21.60; Kolby Angell, 56th, 19:49.30; Eli Carstensen, 76th, 21:43.90; Maddox Carstensen, 81st, 22:47.20; and Jaden Koller, 83rd, 25.04.80.
Teams scores were Lewis Central 39, Glenwood 57, Winterset 62, North Polk 108, Kuemper Catholic 117, Atlantic 170, Ballard 206, Greene County 244, Clarke 268, Boone 286, Des Moines Hoover 298, and Creston 299.
