At KCII we’re counting down the top 10 biggest stories in Washington High School sports for the 2024-2025 academic year. At number two is both cross country teams reaching the Class 3A state championships.

Distance running has become a sport of champions at Washington, as the girls qualified as a team for the state meet in 2022 and the boys made their first-ever trip to state the following year. But this fall is when the Demons truly dominated.

Despite the loss of three-time state medalist Micah Rees, the Washington boys still cruised to five victories as a team and won a fourth consecutive Southeast Conference championship to reach as high as the number-13 ranking in the state.

Senior Tyler Alderton would be one of the leaders of the pack for Washington with three individual victories and eight top-five finishes, while junior Andrew Rees won the individual Southeast Conference title and got inside the top five in six races.

The Washington girls would also excel, never finishing worse than fifth as a team during the regular season and winning three times. Junior Iris Dahl continued the excellence of her first two seasons by winning a conference title and collecting five total victories.

But the Demons saved the best for their state qualifying meet in Pella on October 23rd. The boys took second as a team and got top-five finishes from Alderton and Rees, while the girls got some sweet redemption to mark the first time in school history that both teams reached state in the same season.

One year after losing out on a spot at state by a few points, Washington managed to edge out conference rival Fort Madison by a single point for third place and a trip to Fort Dodge, thanks in part to Dahl finishing fifth and top-25 times from seniors Kendall Hinrichsen, Lauren Horak, Quincy Griffis and Alyvia Anderson.

The season concluded November 2nd with the state meet at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge. Rees would lead the way by taking 13th overall and bringing home a medal, and the Demon boys would finish seventh overall as a team.

Alderton and junior Sawyer Tschantz also made it into the top 40 for the boys’ race, while Dahl, Hinrichsen and Horak had times in the top half of the girls’ field.

All-conference honors went to Alderton, Rees, Sawyer Tschantz, freshman Parker Tschantz and sophomore Ethan Hotchkiss for the boys, as well as Dahl, Hinrichsen, Horak and Anderson for the girls.

Keep listening to KCII and check online at KCIIradio.com as the countdown concludes tomorrow with the Number One Washington High Sports Story of 2024-2025.