One of the Class 1A State Qualifying Sites to keep an eye on today is the race hosted by the Mount Ayr Raiders. The Panorama Panthers boys and girls cross country teams will embark on Mount Ayr today with both squads looking for return trips to the state meet next weekend in Fort Dodge. The field includes runners from 29 regional schools including West Central Activities Conference members Earlham, West Central Valley, and Woodward-Granger.

Panorama head cross country coach Greg Thompson feels confident about the Panther girls advancing to the state meet, but isn’t as comfortable about the situation for his boy’s team. “(The boys) have a chance, I don’t think we are going to finish any worse than fifth, but we need to be third if we want to advance to the state level.” Thompson said, “The boys will have to see Nodaway Valley, defending state champions ranked number one and Woodward Academy is currently ranked number ninth, but they just won our conference meet last week. They are a battle tested group also.”

The top 15 individual runners and the three lowest scoring teams will qualify for the Class 1A State Cross Country meet next Saturday at Fort Dodge’s Lakeside Golf Course. Today’s running of the Class 1A State Qualifying meet will begin at 4- p.m. with the varsity girls race and the boys will follow from the Mount Ayr Golf Course.