The season has come down to one final race for the Washington Demons cross country team.

Both the girls and boys teams will compete this afternoon at the Class 3A state qualifying meet in Solon. Among the teams Washington will run against include: Davenport Assumption, Center-Point, Central Clinton, Clear Creek-Amana, Fairfield, Keokuk, Marion, Mount Vernon, Solon, South Tama County, and Williamsburg. Head coach Steve Roth said the state qualifying course has changed this year and he feels it could benefit his runners.

“There are no hills, which is good for us.” Roth said, ” We really feel comfortable with the level ground.”

In order to extend their season one more race, the group would have to finish in the top three, while individual runners need to finish in 10th place or better.

On the girls side, junior Emme Keith is looking for her second straight appearance in the state meet. Keith received all-conference honors after finishing 3rd overall in last week’s conference meet with a time of 16:23.  

On the boys side, their top two runners sophomore Owen Horak and senior Curtis Vest have the best opportunity to make the state meet. The two have been neck and neck this season, including both finishing as all-conference runners last week. With this potentially being his final race of his high school career, Vest wants to make sure he finishes better than he did at last years district meet.

“Last year I did really bad and finished in 68th place and that’s my worst placing ever.” Vest said, “I think I will be able to improve a lot.”

The state qualifying meet will take place this afternoon beginning at 3:30 at Solon High School.