Photo by Stephen Koenigsfeld GMG’s Kyla Wilkening runs up a hill during the Pine Lake Invitational on Thursday, September 1. Wilkening took fourth overall in a time of 21 minutes, 44 seconds. The Wolverines finished in seventh place with 150 points.

By STEPHEN KOENIGSFELD ELDORA – Written in black marker on the top of Kyla Wilkening’s left fist read the words, ‘Do it for.’ On the top of her right fist read the name ‘Zoe.’ “Each of us put it on each other’s hands,” Wilkening said. “I did one teammate’s, then she did another one, and we just went around. Kind of like for bonding. We know we’re finishing for that person, not for [ourselves].” Wilkening was running for teammate Zoe Duncan on Thursday night in the Pine Lake Invitational, where she took fourth place overall in a time of 21 minutes, 44 seconds. The Wolverines took seventh as a team with 150 points while Hudson won the meet with 70. Coming off a season where she was the first athlete to qualify for the state cross country meet in school history, the junior leads a group of runners with mixed experience into the 2016 season. Wilkening said she enjoys cross country season about “1,000 times better,” than track and field because she gets a little more scenery while running. The beginning of the season has already felt different for Wilkening, who gave a lot of credit to what early-season success she’s had to training and the offseason. “It felt really good this year, because I went out a bit slower than usual,” Wilkening said. “I didn’t go out hard, but just moved up throughout the race. The first two miles, the hills were absolutely nothing. Going up them, it took nothing. It felt really good.” Wilkening was followed by teammates Belle Duncan (31) and Lindsey Slifer (32) – both freshmen – who ran times of 25:05 and 25:07, respectively. Wilkening said for as early as it is in the cross country season, the GMG girls’ cross country team is on pace toward accomplishing its goals. “We’ll do pretty well. Everybody has their goals set, and obviously we’re not going to meet them right away, but we pushed really hard the first couple practices,” Wilkening said. “We’re going to get them.” The West Marshall girls’ cross country team took fourth Thursday, led by freshman Avril Sinning. She clocked a time of 23:34, leading senior Allison Hilleman, sophomore Maddy Gerhart and junior Mariah Bockes. Head coach Cynthia Hilleman said while the final destination is Fort Dodge for the state cross country meet in October, the team has started working on the pieces of success, rather than just trying to solely improve on a week-by-week basis. “State is the ultimate goal, every time,” Hilleman said. “But we’re working on different things, like this week we worked on hills to get ready on this. Next week, we’ll work on staying on pace. There’s little things we’ve been doing to put the picture together for October.” Hilleman also coaches the boys’ cross country team, which saw junior Edison Weig take third overall in a time of 18:11. Hilleman said experience and patience helped Weig snag a top five spot, even exceeding her expectations for him during the second meet of the season. “Top 10, for sure, but we’ve really been working on his pace work,” Hilleman said. “He really used that when he was running. He knew everybody went out fast, and he decided not to, and he played a really smart game which was very beneficial for him.” The Trojans took seventh in the boys’ varsity race, scoring 144 points. Aplington-Parkersburg won with 52 points – and the top two runners in Trevor Haren and Grant Truax – while East Marshall was second with 76 points. Weig said running with the lead group toward the end the race was the perfect strategy, allowing him to feel out the race. “It just felt like one of the best races of the season, so far,” Weig said. “It’s a work in progress, but I’m finding out strategies in the beginning months. Then, later in the season, you can just pick up the speed a little bit. But it’s a great race. Everybody ran wonderfully.” Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck boys took fourth with 98 points, led by Dylan Hendricks’ seventh-place finish in a time of 18:33. The BCLUW boys were fifth with 113 points, and had Ian Showers, Grant Baker and Caleb Silver 11th, 12th and 13th, respectively. Host team South Hardin finished eighth with 176 points, led by 16th-place Jacob Vanderwilt in a time of 19:13. And GMG was 9th with 189 points and had Ethan Karsjen take 18th as the Wolverines’ top finisher in a time of 19:30. Back on the girls’ side, GC/G-R took sixth with 115 points. Reegan Zinkula and Lily Ehlers garnered top 10 honors, finishing sixth and ninth, respectively. The East Marshall girls were eighth with 154 points. The Mustangs were led by Maddie Duncan in a time of 23:47. BCLUW took ninth with 235 points, led by sophomore Katie Thompson who took 23rd in a time of 24:32. The North Tama girls’ squad was 10th with 279 points. Lydia Ketter, Shelby McKinley and Tessa Dvorak were 53rd, 54th and 55th, respectively, followed closely by Adel Scherrer in 57th.