FORT DODGE — McKenna Montgomery started strong and never let up.
Emerson Vokes used faith to guide him to another state championship.
Montgomery won the Class 2A girls cross country race for the first time in her career to bring home an individual state title for Albia, and Volkes was a repeat champion for Grundy Center in the 2A boys race.
Montgomery ran a 5-kilometer time of 18 minutes, 20.7 seconds to win the 2A girls race by an impressive 34.5 seconds.
“I’ve had two years where I was super-close to getting there, and I didn’t quite get there,” said Montgomery. “My senior year, obviously that’s the goal. There’s a lot of pressure, but a lot of momentum. It felt really good out there.”
Montgomery ran a 5:37 over the first mile to move in front of the pack. She gradually separated herself from Monticello freshman Mary Grace Lyons to win the race by a comfortable margin.
“I definitely set the tone of the race,” Montgomery said. “I wanted to get out quick and I wanted to be able to control the race and push the pace. I was happy I was able to do that.”
Montgomery placed third in the 2024 2A girls race.
Lyons ran a runner-up time of 18:55.2 during the 2025 2A girls race. Unity Christian’s Katie Young and Kambrie Dekkers were third and fourth with respective times of 19:09.2 and 19:10.5.
Treynor won the 2A girls team championship with 121 points after producing five of 52 runners overall. All five runners placed among the top 33 among runners on scored teams.
Freshman Lilly Miller was the fastest Treynor runner after placing 14th in 19:53.1.
In the 2A boys race, Vokes won in 15:42.0. He took first by an impressive 36.5 seconds over Denver’s Jesse Gomez.
He fell just short of his 2024 time of 15:37.5.
“It’s really cool to be able to do this again,” said Vokes. “Obviously the first time is a little bit more special, but God is just so good to me. I feel so undeserving of this. It’s so cool to come down that chute one last time.”
Denver’s Jesse Gomez came in second with a time of 16:18.5.
Chariton rolled to the 2A boys team title with 42 points.
The Chargers had five runners place in the top 21. Lucas Anderson led the way with a third-place time of 16:21.8 and Cy Stuart placed fifth in 16:27.1.
Forest City placed second in the 2A boys team standings with 110 points. Oelwein was third with 130.
Joe Randleman covers high school sports for the Ames Tribune. Contact him at jrandleman@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @JoeRandleman
This article originally appeared on Ames Tribune: McKenna Montgomery, Emerson Vokes claim Class 2A Iowa state cross country titles
Reporting by Joe Randleman, Des Moines Register / Ames Tribune
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