by Savannah Sorensen

On Saturday, Nov. 1 at the 2014 State Cross Country Meet in Fort Dodge, three time state qualifier junior Tiffany Williams made history. Williams is now the fifth girl in Atlantic history to finish in the top ten at the state meet, finishing seventh on Saturday. She improved her time from state last year by over 20 seconds and finished 17 places better. Williams has improved tremendously from her freshman year where she finished 62 with a time of 16:07.

Head coach Paul Iekel said, “Tiff had a great race, she got out well and was up in eighth place before the mile mark. She went back and forth with a few girls, and really competed hard. It was fun to watch her do well, and it was fun to have the girls there supporting her. That’s one of the things I love about the cross country family.”

With the season coming to an end, the girls and boys both had various successes throughout the season. The girls varsity beat over 75% of the teams they competed against, improving from last year’s 60%. The boys varsity beat about 36% of the teams they faced, improving from last year’s 33%. Iekel said, “I think we are continuing to improve, both the boys and the girls were better than last year. The boys team is young and there are a lot of them, and I think they will continue to get better. The girls have a strong senior class, and one or two quality runners in each grade that we need to build on.”

What’s in mind for next season? According to Iekel, “I think we need to do a little more speed earlier in the season so the kids feel some success right away and are more willing to work hard to keep the successes going. They are going to have to start the season with a decent base so they can work hard, but avoid injuries.” The boys will have at least half of their varsity returning, and the girls will only have two returning varsity runners.

The boys and girls teams ended their season officially with a banquet Monday night in the high school commons.