Veteran freshman: Monticello’s Mary Grace Lyons is the 2A girls’ state runner-up

FORT DODGE — Mary Grace Lyons is a freshman, but no stranger to elite competition.

The Monticello dynamo was a middle-school state championship last year. And she recently ran a Junior Olympic race that featured more than 400 runners.

So when it came time to toe the line at Lakeside Golf Course Friday morning, there was no fear, even if the 30-degree wind chill induced some trembling.

Lyons was the Class 2A girls’ runner-up.

“This feels really good,” Lyons said after her 18-minute, 55-second effort placed her behind Albia’s McKenna Montgomery (18:20). “There were so many hugs after the race.

“I thought I should finish top-20.”

She did so much more.

Lyons ran on Montgomery’s heels for the first half of the race: “I was so happy that I was able to run with her for so long,” she said.

“It was breezy, and there were some tough hills. It could have been 10 degrees warmer and that would have been fine.”

Lyons runs with a red necklace — a gift from her grandfather — and a series of bracelets on her right wrist (“one after each race from eighth grade,” she said).

Waukon rode depth to a somewhat-surprising runner-up finish in the 2A girls’ race. The Indians’ 136 points was second to Treynor’s 121.

Unity Christian was third with 138.

“Coach (Tyler Scholl) told us he would dye his hair pink if we finished in the top three,” said Miriam Downing, who led the Indians with a 26th-place finish.

“I thought we were maybe sixth or seventh. Our friends came over and told us we were second, and I started bawling.”

Downing is a sophomore. Five of Waukon’s other six runners are juniors.

“All of us have gotten a little better,” Downing said. “We knew we could do this. We did what we could.”

With all five of its scorers placing in the top 21, Chariton ran away with the 2A boys’ title with 42 points. Forest City was a distant second with 110; 2024 champion Oelwein was third.

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“We had so many new guys, our goal was at least to podium again,” said Oelwein senior Keshaun Williams, who placed fourth.

Grundy Center’s Emerson Vokes got away from the field early and repeated as individual boys’ champion. His 15:42 clocking was 36 seconds better than runner-up Jesse Gomez of Denver.

Vokes, Gomez and Williams are hail from the North Iowa Cedar League.

“Yeah, I see them a lot,” said Williams, who finished in 16:26. “I just try to run my own race.”

Lyons led a crew of five area top-15 girls. Brooklyn Stutzman of Mid-Prairie was seventh, followed by Jesup’s Jordyn Bergman (ninth), Oelwein’s Ashlynn Sauser (11th) and Cascade’s Hallie Kelchen (13th).

Carlos Meraz of West Liberty finished 11th in the boys race. Brandon Leppert of Waukon was 15th.

2025 STATE CROSS COUNTRY CHAMPIONSHIPS

(At Lakeside Golf Course, Fort Dodge)

Class 2A Girls

TEAMS

1. Treynor 121, 2. Waukon 136, 3. Unity Christian 138, 4. West Marshall 151, 5. Monroe PCM 162, 6. Van Meter 168, 7. Pella Christian 175, 8. Forest City 201, 9. Mid-Prairie 203, 10. Dike-New Hartford 210, 11. Jesup 247, 12. Albia 248, 13. Crestwood 278, 14. Grundy Center 285, 15. MFL MarMac 309.

INDIVIDUALS

1. McKenna Montgomery (Albia), 18:20; 2. Mary Grace Lyons (Monticello), 18:55; 3. Katie Young (Unity), 19:09; 4. Kambrie Dekkers (Unity), 19:10; 5. Scarlett Byrnes (Osage), 19:19; 6. Grace Storjohann (Grundy Center), 19:19; 7. Brooklyn Stutzman (Mid-Prairie), 19:20; 8. Addie Thompson (West Marshall), 19:20; 9. Jordyn Bergman (Jesup), 19:32; 10. Mady Montgomery (Albia), 19:34.

11. Ashlynn Sauser (Oelwein), 19:37; 12. Hailey Koelewyn (Unity), 19:41; 13. Hallie Kelchen (Cascade), 19:48; 14. Lilly Miller (Treynor), 19:53; 15. Lydia Parlee (Grand View Christian), 20:00; 16. Laura Streck (Van Meter), 20:00; 17. Delany Homan (Camanche), 20:07; 18. Avery Trunkill (Denver), 20:08; 19. Abi Teeter (PCM), 20:13; 20. Grace Woodall (Cherokee), 20:16.

Class 2A Boys

TEAMS

1. Chariton 42, 2. Forest City 110, 3. Oelwein 130, 4. Denver 134, 5. Unity Christian 167, 6. Waukon 179, 7. Red Oak 193, 8. Spirit Lake 195, 9. Pella Christian 237, 10. Monticello 247, 11. Monroe PCM 250, 12. Tipton 266, 13. Mediapolis 291, 14. Van Meter 293, 15. Okoboji 319.

INDIVIDUALS

1. Emerson Vokes (Grundy Center), 15:42; 2. Jesse Gomez (Denver), 16:18; 3. Lucas Anderson (Chariton), 16:21; 4. Keshaun Williams (Oelwein), 16:26; 5. Cy Stuart (Chariton), 16:27; 6. Emmanuel Grass (Red Oak), 16:27; 7. Simon Wendel (Mediapolis), 16:36; 8. Myles Matthias (Denver), 16:39; 9. Jace Hungerford (Spirit Lake), 16:40; 10. Malakai Vermeer (Sheldon), 16:41.

11. Carlos Meraz (West Liberty), 16:41; 12. Cody Dixson (Chariton), 16:41; 13. Corben Lucchesi (Roland-Story), 16:42; 14. Jonah Pringnitz (Garner GHV), 16:43; 15. Brandon Leppert (Waukon), 16:44; 16. Hayden Heitbrink (Red Oak), 16:50; 17. Will Schmidgall (Mediapolis), 16:52; 18. Brent Crabb (Chariton), 17:01; 19. Hayden Gustafson (Alburnett), 17:07; 20. Mason Sells (Shenandoah), 17:10.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com