For one final time this Saturday afternoon, Alyssa Richman will put her Manson Northwest Webster cross country uniform on and compete.

Richman is one of 11 area qualifiers between three classes for the state championships, which take place inside Kennedy Park this Friday and Saturday.

A four-time individual state qualifier, Richman placed third last fall for the Cougars in a time of 18:53. She is ranked fourth entering the meet having also placed seventh as a sophomore and 33rd her ninth-grade season.

I’m super excited heading into state,” Richman said. “There’s been a couple ups and downs this season, but I’ve had some good races and training blocks leading up to this moment.

“Being a senior, I know I have nothing to lose. The 2A field is extremely competitive this year, so I know there’s going to be someone pushing me at every point in the race, which is very exciting. I plan to leave it all out on the course — there’s no better place to finish a high school career than Lakeside.”

Richman will race at 2 p.m. with the boys taking the course 45 minutes later. That group includes her teammate, Thatcher Oswald, East Sac County’s Riley Aragon and Landon Sporrer, South Central Calhoun’s Redge Potts and Noah Hinote from Greene County.

Mareni Brabec and Danika Meyer from of Newell-Fonda, Tyra Schupbach from West Bend-Mallard, South Central Calhoun’s Iris Melody and Bishop Garrigan’s Julia Swift all race in 1A at 10:30 a.m. while Algona’s Gavin Weber competes Friday in 3A at 11:15 a.m.

Schupbach, Hinote and Sporrer are all three-time qualifiers while this is the second state meet for Aragon and Potts.

As a sophomore, Schupbach placed 15th in 19:44, taking 16 seconds off her time from her freshman season when she finished 18th. Sporrer, a junior, was 68th last year and 78th as a freshman, while Hinote was 87th last year and 101st two seasons ago.

Potts, ranked 13th, was 82nd for the Titans last year and Aragon finished 120th for the Raiders.

Brabec and Meyer are the first qualifiers from Newell-Fonda in program history, as Brabec was 13th at districts a year ago. Melody comes in ranked 29th for her first race at state.

Swift, Weber and Oswald are all making their state debuts. A freshman, Swift is ranked 16th, while Weber, a junior, is 18th and Oswald, also a junior, is 22nd.

The home to the state meet since 1993, Kennedy Park has seen some of the best runners compete. This year, that includes the likes of three-time defending state champion Noelle Steines of Tipton, Marissa Ferebee from Pella, Ethan Zuber of Ankeny, Emmett Swartzentruber of Mid-Prairie and Ferebee’s teammate, Canaan Dunham.

Steines won three titles in 1A competing for Calamus-Wheatland before transferring to 2A’s Tipton the day after state last year. Ferebee, the 3A champion, became just the second Iowan to go under 17 minutes earlier this year, joining Gilbert grad and current University of Arkansas runner Paityn Noe.

Zuber won gold in 4A while Swartzentruber was the 2A champion.