Photos Courtesy of Washington XC Social Media
The Washington Demon cross country teams are on the course tonight in Mount Pleasant for the Southeast Conference Championship meet.
Washington last ran at North Linn where the boys finished second in team scoring and the girls were fifth. Andrew Rees was second in the boys race and Jack Shepherd sixth to lead. Iris Dahl was 10th for the girls.
The Demons come into today’s event with defending individual SEC Champ Andrew Rees ranked No. 19 in the latest Class 3A boys poll from the Iowa Association of Track Coaches. The Washington boys are trying to make it five straight team titles. The Washington girls are trying to win the team league championship after missing out a season ago, but taking it home in 2023. The Demon girls also return individual SEC Champ Iris Dahl. This week, head coach Stefanie Haworth spoke with KCII Sports about what will make Thursday a success for the Demons. “On the girls side Fort Madison is probably going to be the team winner. They are ranked fifth in 3A. We’re looking to get as many individuals in the top 10 as possible. We have three or four that should be right there with the pack and anything can happen on race day. Iris (Dahl) should be right there in the top three and it’s anybody’s day, anybody’s race. That will be fun to see. Boys side it’s going to be tight. If we win it will be our fifth-in-a-row. Fort Madison is solid on the boys side as well and they are ranked above us. They have been us significantly each and every week, but, we have gotten better each and every week. It should be a good race, it could be very close. I would definitely like to pull out another team win on the boys side!”
Washington will be joined tonight by Fairfield, the No. 5 Fort Madison girls and their No. 16 boys, Burlington, Keokuk and the home Panthers. Action starts with youth races at 4p.m. And continues into the evening at Mount Pleasant High School.