The crown on the cross country career of Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn’s George Vargas will be an appearance in the State Cross Country Meet. The Hawk senior finshed ninth at the Class 1A State Qualifying Meet which was held October 19th at the Spencer Municipal Golf Course.
The State Cross Country Meet will be conducted at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course at Fort Dodge. The Class 1A boys run is slated to start at 2:45 p.m. on Friday, October 27.
“I told George to trust his instincts from the get go,” stated HMS cross country coach Kirsten Taylor. “He Vargas embraced this race and ran with a fire in his belly.”
Vargas admitted that along with that fire were a few butterflies. “I think fear’s the greatest motivator, and I was definitely scared that entire race,” admitted the HMS senior. “That first mile, I did not feel great and I was going through a lot of pain toward that last mile, too. My heart was really beating. I didn’t feel too good and my legs were just gone, but I saw the MMCRU kid take off and I thought, ‘Why not?’
Vargas saved his first ever sub-18 minute time for this important occasion. His clocking of 17:56.19 set a personal record by almost 30 seconds.
“This meet is the one that truly mattered, and he accomplished something not many athletes do,” said Taylor. “He is a determined young man who has worked hard his whole cross country career to advance on to the State Meet. He has done so much for this program. I’m excited for him!”
It was a finishing kick that put Vargas into the number nine spot among the race finishers. The top 10 advance to State. “Eight hundred meters, I kind of felt like I had a little surge of energy and I started picking it up,” he explained. “I finally got close to that group of three boys ahead of me and then 400 meters someone yells out, ‘400 to go’ and the MMCRU kid surged ahead and I thought, ‘Oh, I gotta go,’ so I surged with and we dropped those two kids by a couple of seconds at least. So I was pretty happy about that.”
Vargas was also pleased with the five kilometer race course. “This was a beautiful course,” he commented. “It was amazing. I enjoyed it because there were not too many loops I had to re-run over and over. There was different elevation a bit. The wind wasn’t too bad. There was wind in a couple spots, but overall, this was a great course to run on.” A temperature in the low sixties was also to his liking. “This is perfect temperature, because I can just throw my arm sleeves on and I’m ready,” said Vargas.
The HMS qualifier’s goals for the State Meet are uncomplicated. “Just go out there and compete and get a PR,” stated Vargas. “That would be nice.”