Ballard's Paityn Noe breaks 17 minutes to shatter state 5K record

Paityn Noe left no doubt whatsoever who the best high school female cross country runner is in the state of Iowa.

When it comes to running the 5-kilometer race, she is the best the state has ever seen.

The Ballard senior set a new girls state cross country record in emphatic fashion during the Class 3A state cross country finals at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge Saturday.

Noe, the defending state champion after placing third as a freshman and second as a sophomore, became the first female runner in Iowa history to break 17 minutes on a 5K course. She crossed the finish line in 16 minutes, 48.58 seconds to break her own state record of 17:09.8 set on the same course this month at the Fort Dodge Invitational.

"That was my goal coming into the race was just to go out hard and break that 17 minutes," Noe said. "Man, when I crossed the line it was awesome. I felt so happy."

More:Ballard's Paityn Noe could make history at Iowa high school girls state cross country meet

Noe jumped out to a huge early lead. She was out in front by 25 yards almost right out of the gate and she quickly increased the lead by 200 yards and was nearly a minute ahead of the rest of the 3A field by the two-mile marker.

"It helps to try and beat the cart," Noe joked. "Really at that point, you've got to think about the time and that you're racing the time. Making sure you don't back off and just keep going. It's a really tough sport, so it definitely helps being consistent and obviously, the experience helps a lot."

Noe said she realized she could beat 17 minutes around the start of the last mile.

"The last half mile my coach (Scott Barth) was doing a really good job of telling me you've got two minutes left of all-out," Barth said. "You've got to give it all, you're going to hit it. Your last 400 has got to be the best 400 of your life, so I was like OK and I started sprinting."

Noe easily broke the previous state-record time of 17:23.9 set by former Ames runner Camille Jackson in 2019. Her time currently ranks fourth nationally.

"She's just fantastic," Ballard junior runner Ava Vance said. "It's awesome to see her go out every single race and do so well. It's so cool. It's almost surreal at some point because you don't really realize she's a teammate you go to school with and she wins state by a minute. It's like holy cow."

Noe topped Jackson's time in her first meet of the season, running a 17:23.6 at Webster City, and she never let up all season, breaking it three more times capped by Saturday's historic performance.

"Last year wasn't the season I wanted, so coming into the season I really had the motivation to show everyone the work I've put in," Noe said. "I've been healthy and keeping strong. I couldn't ask for a better season."

More:How Ballard's Paityn Noe and Valley's Addison Dorenkamp are raising the bar in girls cross country

Noe said she plans on taking her talents to either Iowa State or Arkansas at the next level.

"I'm so excited for it," Noe said. "It's sad this is my last meet, but it's not the end of my life. It's only a small part of it. I'm super-excited going forward getting to that higher competition and training with a lot of elite runners."

Solon's Kayla Young was a distant second, finishing 1:35.55 behind Noe in 18:24.13.

As a team, the Ballard girls were 3A runners-up for the second year in a row after winning back-to-back team titles in 2019 and 2020. The Bombers scored 127 points to edge Solon by one point for second behind Pella's 91 points.

"I'm so proud of those ladies," Noe said. "I could not ask for a better team to be here with."

Sophomore Annika Larson also earned a spot on the medal stand for Ballard after placing 11th in 19:31.87. Vance took 24th in 20:05.21 despite running most of the race with one shoe when one came off at the beginning of the competition.

"It hurt really bad, I will not lie," Vance said. "My foot was cold and there were times you were stepping on walnuts. That wasn't fun. It wasn't the time I wanted, but I only had one shoe."

Ava Richardson took 43rd in 20:28.17 and Brynn Wilson was 104th in 21:36.48 as the other runners to earn points for the Ballard girls. McKenzie Dee came in 115th at 21:49.04 and Raegan Loewe 126th in 22:25.93 for the Bombers.

Gilbert's William Wadsley places fifth in 3A boys race

William Wadsley saved his best for the big stage Saturday.

The Gilbert senior went from not qualifying for state a year ago to placing fifth in the 3A boys race Saturday. Wadsley completed the course in a PR time of 15:52.45 to help Gilbert place seventh as a team with 186 points.

"I am ecstatic," Wadsley said. "Me and my team are so blessed. We were able to get what was coming to us."

Wadsley fell just short of beating long-time rival Zach Sporaa of North Polk for the first time. Sporaa, the third-ranked runner in 3A entering the meet, took fourth at state in 15:51.24.

"I was close," "I knew I could do it from the beginning of the season, but I think subconsciously I might have been holding myself back because Zach was so much better than me my sophomore year. But this season I've learned whatever you want your body to do, it can do it with enough time and by God's grace."

More:Good offseason has Gilbert's William Wadsley in position to make state in cross country

Freshmen Preston Stensland and Carson Squiers took 45th and 53rd for the Gilbert boys with respective times of 17:15.69 and 17:22.03. Harrison Kraehling and Zain Mueller also scored for the Tigers after running times of 17:33.17 and 17:37.46 to place 67th and 75th respectively.

Emmett Barber came in right behind Mueller for the Tigers with a 76th-place time of 17:37.72 and Nolan Weber was 109th in 18:17.97.

Lewis Central's Ethan Eichhorn ran a 15:32.43 to edge the 15:34.17 run by Marion's Jedidiah Osgood to win the 3A boys individual championship. Pella cruised to the 3A boys team championship with 79 points and Marion was second with 115.

Gilbert girls take 12th in 3A

The Gilbert girls improved from last year's 13th-place showing at state by coming in 12th in 3A Saturday with 261 points.

The Tiger girls had two girls place in the top 75 and five in the top 100.

"Our team placed as well as we could," Stahr said. "We all ran great. We always run our best, no matter what day it is. We're putting everything out there."

Stahr ran a PR to lead the way for the Gilbert girls. She placed 38th in 20:21.40.

"I thought it was pretty good," Stahr said. "It wasn't quite the 'A' goal that I had in mind, but I hit that 'B' goal."

Freshman Kiera Andersen took 75th in 20:59.43, Claire Grandgenett was 86th in 21:08.24, Nora Kalvik 93rd in 21:12.16 and Abby Patel 97th in 21:17.97 to round out the scoring for the Tiger girls. Sarah Thatcher placed 103rd in 21:36.21 and Abby McGuire 121st in 22:08.32 as the other runners to compete for Gilbert.

"We had such a great season," Stahr said. "It was an amazing team with an amazing coach."

Three other area individuals run at state

Three other area teams from 3A, 2A and 1A had one runner competing at state.

Nevada's Carter Holland placed 96th in the 3A boys race Saturday. Holland completed the course in 17:58.35.

"It didn't go very well," Holland said. "It was nerves. I didn't sleep well last night and I got really nauseous and couldn't eat very much and I really bad side ache. Hopefully I'll be much better this time next year. I've got to work on the nerves thing, but I'm pretty happy with my season overall."

More:Nevada's Carter Holland hopes to put ankle injuries behind him as he aims for state in cross country

On Friday Roland-Story's Claire Truesdell ran in the 2A girls race and Collins-Maxwell's Ethan Haus competed in the 1A boys race.

Truesdell took 65th in 21:11.43. She placed 73rd in 21:21.45 at last year's state meet.

"Overall, I was happy with how the race went," Truesdell said. "Coach (Brad) Dedic and Coach Hovell helped me to set some state goals after districts. I wanted to improve from last year's finish and PR on the course, so I was thankful to achieve both goals."

Haus capped his career by becoming the second Collins-Maxwell runner ever to compete at state. He took 38th in the 1A boys race with a time of 17:38.96.

"It didn't end the way I wanted, to but I got here," Haus said. "That's all that matters. I had a good year."

This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: Ballard's Paityn Noe shatters state 5K record in girls cross country