The inevitable factors of life: death, taxes, and Johnston girls cross country winning state titles. For the third time in four years, girls cross country ended their season with a state title in Fort Dodge. On Nov. 2, they easily out ran the competition and beat the second place team, Dubuque Senior, by 32 points. They were led by Bella Heikes ’21, who ran an 18:31 and placed fifth overall. Along with Heikes, the Dragons were boosted by Aleah Tenpas ’22 and Samantha Strauss ’21 who finished eighth and tenth respectively with times of 18:41 and 18:48. Heikes, Tenpas, and Strauss were All-State performers (top 15). Other athletes that contributed to the title-winning performance were:

Clara Toot ’20 who finished 23rd with a time of 19:13

Brooke McKee ’20 who finished 30th with a time of 19:24

Kaya Young ’20 who finished 82nd with a time of 20:22

Faith Nead ’22 who finished 93rd with a time of 20:29

The girls cross country program has a very bright future, as they are only losing three varsity runners, and are returning three All-State performers from this year. Not to mention, the middle school girls got second place as a team in both the seventh and eighth grade divisions at the middle school statewide meet.