Cook beats the ticks and the field to win Regional title

By Jeff Holmes

INDEPENDENCE — It was a long time coming for Marion’s Collin Cook, and harder than you might imagine.

Cook broke away from the pack in the final stretch to win the boys’ Class 3A Regional championship on Independence’s Mental Health Institute campus to finally qualify for the State cross-country meet that he’s waited for so long. Cook ran a solid time of 16:31.29 for the title.

For the better part of the last two years, Cook, a junior for the Wolves, has battled the disease that is caused by wood ticks and has caused inflammation of the heart.

“I had to wear one of those heart monitors for about six weeks,” Cook said. “I couldn’t finish a race because my diaphragm would lock up.”

But late this summer things turned a corner for Cook.

“I’ve been on meds — antibiotics — for the last three months, and it has been such a help,” he said. “I mean, I went from DNFing (Did Not Finish) to winning Regionals…I’m pretty happy about that.”

Mount Vernon won the team title on the boys side scoring four runners in the top 10 for a score of 45, edging Central DeWitt’s 52. Wahlert Catholic was third with 83.

Kyler Happel led the Mustangs with a third-place finish in 16:41.49, just 10 seconds off Cook’s pace.

There was little drama on the girls’ side, as Mount Vernon-Lisbon’s Evelyn Moeller ran a rather pedestrian (for her) time of 17:25.73, with Center Point-Urbana’s Aaliyah Causey finishing second at 19:07.61.

“Today was kind of a workout for me,” Moeller said. “We won’t go hard next week, so this was my last chance to get a tough practice in.”

The Mustang girls’ team will join the boys, as they finished third behind Regional champs Wahlert Catholic and runner-up Solon.

The 3A State cross-country meet will be held on Halloween in Fort Dodge. The girls’ race begins at 10:30 am, followed by the boys’ race at 11:15 am.

3A Regional champs Evelyn Moeller of Mount Vernon-Lisbon and Collin Cook of Marion. (Photo by Jeff Holmes)

Girls Results

Teams (top 3 qualify for state) — 1. Dubuque Wahlert 60, 2. Solon 74, 3. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 93, 4. Center Point-Urbana 108, 5. Maquoketa 109, 6. West Delaware 139, 7. Marion 144, 8. Central DeWitt 216, 9. Waverly-Shell Rock 278, 10. Vinton-Shellsburg 315, 11. South Tama 336, 12. Grinnell 347.

State-qualifying individuals — 1. Evelyn Moeller (MVL), 17:25; 2. Aaliyah Causey (CPU), 19:07; 3. Ashlyn Appleby (DeWitt), 19:23; 4. Abigail Miller (Maquoketa), 19:25; 5. Sloan Miller (Wahlert), 19:27; 6. Addison Seamans (Solon), 20:14; 7. Ella Rohner (Wahlert), 20:19; 8. Lucy Lueken (Wahlert), 20:27; 9. Livya Nelson (Solon), 20:27; 10. Emerson Dabroski (Marion), 20:30; 11. Natalie Hackman (Maquoketa), 20:32; 12. Brynn Kartman (West Delaware), 20:36; 13. Aurora Milroy (West Delaware), 20:37; 14. Olivia Fisher (Marion), 20:38; 15. Rose Pisarik (MVL), 20:43.

Boys Results

Teams (top 3 qualify for state) — 1. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 45, 2. Central DeWitt 52, 3. Dubuque Wahlert 83, 4. Marion 100, 5. Waverly-Shell Rock 133, 6. Grinnell 159, 7. Solon 172, 8. Center Point-Urbana 210, 9. South Tama 241, 10. West Delaware 262, 11. Vinton-Shellsburg 289.

State-qualifying individuals — 1. Collin Cook (Marion), 16:31; 2. Aden Wolfe (Grinnell), 16:39; 3. Kyler Happel (MVL), 16:41; 4. Kyle Olson (DeWitt), 16:43; 5. Anthony Armstrong (MVL), 16:43; 6. Colie Niemann (DeWitt), 16:44; 7. Connor Teague (MVL), 16:48; 8. Casey Swart (MVL), 16:57; 9. James Garrison (DeWitt), 16:59; 10. Anders Holmes (Solon), 17:05; 11. Sam Murphy (Wahlert), 17:11; 12. Lane Johnston (DeWitt), 17:13; 13. Max Schirmer (South Tama), 17:14; 14. Matthew Hommowun (WSR), 17:15; 15. Mateo Ochoa (Wahlert), 17:18.