Fatima met team goals and put to rest doubts of the Comets’ success as they earned fourth at Saturday’s Class 2 state cross country championships at Gans Creek in Columbia. This is the team’s 11th state trophy in the programs history as Fatima’s score of 153 was just 11 points from third and only eight points from fifth.

“I was over the moon with the way the boys showed up and competed Saturday,” said Coach Marc Bridges. “The team vision this season was earning a top-four finish, and through hard work and dedication, the vision was realized.  Heading into state, I’m not sure anyone outside of our team thought we were capable of a top-four finish, but we were confident in the team’s ability. This finish was truly a team effort.”

The last time the Comets earned a state trophy was in 2020, when Fatima won the title. This year marked the Comets’ 26th state team appearance, the last coming in 2023.   

Two individuals earned All-State medals.

Michael Gabelsberger finished 21st in 16:49 and Wyatt Dake earned 29th in 17:02.

“Michael has been our clear number-one runner all season and we knew we could count on him to be in the top 30,” said Bridges. “Wyatt had his best race ever. He went into the meet ranked around 60th in a virtual ranking, but Wyatt had other plans and through sheer force of will pushed himself into a top-30 spot.”

Gabelsberger set a goal to cross the finish line in 16:30. “I I could have ran a little bit better, but it’s not just about me — it’s about our team,” he said. “Everyone ran great, and we’ll be back next year to get another trophy. Individually, they did what they needed to get us a fourth-place finish.”

Dake, meanwhile, was happy to earn his first AS medal. “It went way better than I thought it would. I did not expect to run a 17 flat; it wasn’t in my mind at all. I felt good today, and I just kept pushing.”

Senior Zach Kloeppel came up huge for his team, passing 21 runners in the final 2,000 meters of the race to keep our team score down. He earned 48th in 17:35.

Zack Eisterhold moved up an amazing 42 places in the second half of the race to finish as Fatima’s fourth runner, finishing 67th (17:58), and Trenton Orscheln held a strong position throughout the race as the fifth Comet to cross, with a 72nd-place time of 18:01. 

Freshmen duo Brady Horton (87, 18:13) and Evan Klouzek (156, 20:10) rounded out the team. “Brady was battling through some injuries this week as he had one of the best times of the season,” said Bridges. “Evan held strong as he was the sixth-best number seven runner among the 16 qualified teams. I couldn’t be prouder of the way our boys pulled together, believed in the vision, and executed one of the most exiting races I’ve been a part of.”