Wedeking finishes 14th in 1A field

FORT DODGE – Caleb Wedeking of North Butler improved his placing from his sophomore season in the Class 1A state cross country meet at Fort Dodge on Saturday, Nov. 2.

Wedeking finished 14th a year after taking 16th on the same course despite finishing four seconds back than his previous time. He crossed the line this year in 17 minutes, 4.4 seconds.

It was initially reported that Wedeking was 12th, but the finish was posted in error.

“Even though Caleb didn’t meet his goal of placing in the top-10, he needs to be proud of his effort and his overall performance in this race and throughout the entire season,” North Butler coach Kirk Clark said. “He was just nine seconds short of finishing in that 10th place spot of being on the ‘deck’ at the awards ceremony, but he did everything he could to have the race of his life.

“He had a great start and picked off runners as the race went on.”

At the start, Wedeking was in the 25th position and by the midway point, he was in 13th before being passed at the end.

“It was a battle with three runners coming down to the end,” Clark said. “We, as coaches, were very proud of his run and are proud of his season as a whole.

“Caleb has definitely made himself known; a familiar face of North Butler cross country.”