FORT DODGE — Madelyn Grothus saved her best for last during the Class 1A girls race at the 2026 Iowa state cross country meet.

Grothus placed 10th at the 2025 state meet after taking fifth as both a freshman and sophomore. She was ranked seventh by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches heading into the meet.

So she was not on the state championship radar for a lot of people heading into the 1A race on Oct. 30 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course.

But by the time the first race of the 2026 state meet had ended, she had locked up the first individual girls state cross country championship in Madrid history.

"I've grown up watching people win this meet," said Grothus. "It's pretty cool to be that person now."

The victory was made possible by Grothus' ability to maintain a strong lead pace over the final two miles of the race. Grothus took the lead after one mile and gradually increased her advantage over Newman Catholic's Alexis Mujica and Panorama's Kylie Rochholz.

As she came around the final turn, Grothus knew she had it.

"The key was just to go out smooth a mile in and then kick it when the time was right," Grothus said. "When I got to the curve coming downhill to the finish you could kind of see how far back people are. I knew I just need to stride and sprint it in and I'd be OK."

Grothus crossed the finish line with a 5-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 17.6 seconds. That beat Mujica by 10.7 seconds for first place.

Grothus' time was over a minute faster than her 2025 state time and 49 seconds faster than her previous best state time of 19:06.4 run during her freshman year.

Mujica finished the 2026 1A girls race in 18:28.3 and Rochholz ran an 18:36.7.

Maquoketa Valley won the 1A girls team title with 54 points. Madrid was a distant second with a score of 149 and Collins-Maxwell placed third with 155 points.

Tri-Center's Haven Weers pulls off 1A boys title

Haven Weers was running on adrenaline after crossing the finish line of the 1A boys race at the state cross country meet.

The Tri-Center junior had just claimed his first individual state title after crossing the finish line in under 16 minutes. Weers ran a 5k time of 15:57.4 to dethrone defending champion Hugh Conway of South Winneshiek.

Weers could not contain his excitement. He was pumping up the crowd as he neared the finish line, and he immediately went around giving hugs and high-fives to his supporters who had gathered around the finish-line area.

"I've wanted this since I started running," said Weers. "To see it all happen, I was just so hyped. A lot of emotions."

Conway might have been the defending champion, but Weers was ranked No. 1 by the IATC heading into the state meet.

Weers, who started running in eighth grade, ran his race at state despite the cold and windy conditions. He finished 15.8 seconds ahead of Conway in claiming his first state title.

"I executed it exactly how I wanted," Weers said. "I felt like I was the fastest in the field and I went out there and proved it."

Weers is already planning on a repeat performance in 2027.

"I think that's mine next year too," Weers said. "I've just got to keep working hard."

Riverside repeated as the 1A boys team champion. The Bulldogs did it by the slimmest of margins, beating Earlham via a tiebreaker.

Riverside's No. 6 runner beat out Earlham's final runner to give the Bulldogs the tiebreaker after both teams scored 127 points.