It is an exciting day for Dallas Center-Grimes Mustangs cross country fans and for Piper Messerly, the sophomore on the Mustang girls cross country team as she achieved the highest feat for a high school girl cross country athlete, placing first at the State Cross Country Meet.

Piper not only lead the pack for her fellow Mustangs, but found herself leading the entire race finishing in first place with a time of 17:58.7 seconds to claim a state championship for Dallas Center-Grimes. Messerly’s first place finished helped Dallas Center-Grimes finish in the top five as a team, claiming fifth place with a score of 156 points.

Messerly, and the rest of the Mustang girls can proudly return home taking a first place medal and the bragging rights of being the Class 4A girls cross country state championship. Only in her sophomore year, Messerly still has two more seasons in which she can better herself and wreck more havoc with the Mustangs out on the course.