Submitted photo: The St. Edmond boys pose with their Class 1A state-qualifying banner on Thursday in Manly.

MANLY — The St. Edmond boys cross country team will return home to the state championships next week.

Anthony Valles, Liam Shannon and Levi Odor-Westrum all placed in the Top-10 individually as the Gaels were second to only Lake Mills here Thursday at a Class 1A qualifying meet.

For the SEHS girls, Ellie Knox just missed an individual bid as the squad placed third behind Madrid and Wapsie Valley. Bishop Garrigan’s Julia Swift locked up a berth by placing fourth.

The 1A state meet takes place next Saturday in Fort Dodge at Lakeside Golf Course.

“It was an emotional day. These kinds of things always are,” Gael head coach Mike Szalat said. “On the one hand, you are excited for the boys in earning a fifth straight team appearance. But you are also sad for Ellie and the girls.

“Across the board, though, everybody ran great. That’s really all you can ask for.”

Lake Mills coasted to the boys team crown, as all five counting runners were in the Top-15. Hayden Thompson took second overall, Knute Rogne finished fourth and Kade Van Roekel was fifth.

North Iowa’s top-ranked senior, Gavin Grunhovd, picked up the individual title in 16:13.

The Gaels countered with Valles placing third in 16:34, Shannon going 17:06 for sixth and Odor-Westrum placing ninth in 17:30.

“Anthony wanted to challenge Grunhovd so we did for the first 800,” Szalat said. “From there, we switched gears and he raced for the team. That’s a credit to Anthony for knowing what we needed and for doing it.

“Liam is just a tremendous talent and ran his guts out. He dropped 30 seconds off his PR which is a huge chunk of time. And Levi had his PR by eight seconds, which is just great.”

Jonah Carlson was 28th overall in 18:40, Erik Larson finished 38th in 19:10, Drake Yurkovac was 48th in 19:37 and Thomas Knobbe placed 60th in 20:56.

“Jonah has really come on over the last month and turned into our No. 4 runner,” Szalat said. “He took 32 seconds off his PR, Erik took 15 seconds off, Drake took eight seconds off and Thomas ran his fastest time of the season.

“I’m just really proud of the boys. We’ve now had a team qualify for either the boys or girls every season since 2005 and when I think about that, I truly see just how blessed I am to coach great kids and work with wonderful assistants”

St. Edmond scored 99 points for the girls, 27 back of Wapsie Valley. Knox was 11th overall in a time of 21:05, as she just missed out on advancing as an individual.

Naomi Valles was 14th overall in 21:41 with Nina Smith placing 38th in 23:23 and Alex Leiting 41st in 23:34. Lily Eslick was 43rd (23:40), Betsy Gruver finished 50th (24:14) and Abby Tofilon was 64th (26:20).

“Naomi took 39 seconds off her PR and really set herself up for next year,” Szalat said. “Betsy had herself a PR and our pack of Nina, Alex and Lily ran great together again.”

The race was the final one in a Gael uniform for Knox along with Josie Harvey, who joined the team this past season. Knox was a three-time runner at state, placing 44th overall a season ago.

“When you are around someone for four years, you really get to know them,” Szalat said. “Ellie has been a big part of our program and we are going to miss her next year. She helped us get a trophy (by placing third) and was a staple of our roster who just got better and better each season.”

Swift, a freshman, clocked a PR in 19:35 as Katelyn Brandhorst from Madrid was the race winner in 19:11.

North Union’s Jacey Welbig was 13th overall in 21:35 while Alexis Cummins placed 24th in 22:36 and Alyssa Welbig was 45th in 23:50.

Bishop Garrigan’s Corbin Darling was 69th in 21:22 while Kade Madden led the North Union boys by placing 81st in 22:15.