Dowling Catholic Boys' Cross Country Tops in State

The boys exceeded expectations and finished second at last year's state meet.

This year they expect to walk away champions.

Head coach Tim Ives has been with Dowling for five seasons now, and realizes that this year's team is special.

"This year's team is definitely far better then last year's, we finished second last year and were picked fourth, so that was a nice surprise," Ives said. "I think it would be a disapointment if we didn't finish the way we started the season, which is No. 1."

Ives said so far his boys have met expectations.

"Our guys are largely ahead of where they were last year at this time," he said. "Overall, we're meeting our expectations, we haven't exceeded those yet, but we had pretty high expectations to begin with."

Senior Patrick Kinley was the fifth-best runner on last year's state meet team; he finished 43rd. He is one of six guys who return from last year's team of seven.

"It's basically just the same runners that matured and have just gotten better," Kinley said. "We trained really hard and a year can make a big difference, we want to win state this year."

Another one of those six returners is senior Cole Decker. Last year as a junior he finished fourth at the state meet. This year he was ranked first at the beginning of the year, and has since dropped to eighth.

Ives says Decker will excel when the meets matter most; at the end of the season.

"He is ahead of where he was last year and he always emerges in the big meets," Ives said. "We hope that when he's rested and finished his training cycle that he'll end at No. 1."

The state tournament is Oct. 29 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.