(Oakland) Riverside will attempt to run their way into the state meet field on Thursday. Coach Alex Oliver’s squad is among 19 schools scheduled to compete at Ridge View.
The State Qualifying Meet starts at 4:00 p.m. Coach Oliver has been encouraged by the progression of his boys team. “The last couple of meets the boys have come out and run pretty well. That’s a positive going into the postseason. We are all going to have to show up from the first run down to the 7th runner. I think they are looking forward to that opportunity.”
They will be one of four ranked teams on the course in Holstein. “Ogden is a highly rated team and then you have the 19th and 20th rated teams. We come in at 14 and we’ve been as high as 10. We are looking to move in there and scare Ogden and be top two as a team.”
Riverside ran well in their last outing with a 3rd place finish at Missouri Valley. “My boys really came out and competed well on Saturday. With cooler temperatures and better course to run on gave us some confidence. Woodbine is a tough team, but the gap we closed on IKM-Manning was positive.”
Coach Oliver is hoping to see his girls squad finish at least in the top half of the team scoring. They’ll have some individuals gunning for state bids. “I really think we can bin the top four or five and score well.” Oliver says, “I know we have some girls that have their sights set on being individual qualifiers and going top ten.”
Carly Henderson posted an impressive runner-up finish at their last regular season meet and Bailey Richardson was 6th in that competition.
In Class 1A the top two teams and top ten individuals from each site will advance to the State Meet in Fort Dodge on Friday, October 28th.
Riverside coach Alex Oliver:
