Rachael Murty competes in last season's state cross country meet in Fort Dodge. NORTH TAMA TELEGRAPH FILE PHOTO

WAVERLY – Led by senior Rachael Murty, the North Tama girls cross country team ran their way to a runner-up finish at the Iowa Star Conference Cross Country Meet hosted by Dunkerton on Tuesday, Oct. 13, at the Wartburg Max Cross Country Course in Waverly, defeating Baxter by a mere point for the silver finish.

Murty paced the Redhawks by finishing seventh out of 60 scoring runners, setting a personal record of 20 minutes, 37.4 seconds. Isla Breakenridge finished 11th in 21:06.8, while sisters Abi and Lucy Monat came in 18th and 19th, respectively, with times of 22:32.7 and 22:33.2.

Brynley Seda rounded out North Tama’s scoring in 26th with a time of 24:13.1. At the finish, Seda edged Baxter’s Piper Redman, who took 27th in 24:16.0.

As a team, North Tama scored 60 points to earn runner-up honors in the varsity girls race behind first-place Collins-Maxwell with 33 points. Baxter was third with 61 points, followed distantly by Meskwaki Settlement in fourth (96), Riceville in fifth (98), and Cedar Ridge Christian in sixth (117).

North Tama did not field any runners in the boys varsity race.

Today, Thursday, Oct. 22, the No. 17 North Tama girls cross country team was scheduled to compete in a Class 1A state qualifier hosted by Colfax-Mingo at Thomas Mitchell Park in Mitchellville alongside runners from Baxter, Belle Plaine, BGM, Colfax-Mingo, No. 4 Collins-Maxwell, Colo-NESCO, No. 16 Earlham, East Marshall, Gladbrook-Reinbeck, GMG, HLV, Iowa Valley, Melcher-Dallas, Meskwaki Settlement School, Montezuma, North Mahaska, New Sharon, Pleasantville, and Southeast Warren.

Ranked runners scheduled to run include No. 12 Elizabeth Erickson of Colo-NESCO, No. 13 Summer Isley of Pleasantville, No. 16 Jayden Peters of Collins-Maxwell, No. 22 Ashlynn Hosbond of Colfax-Mingo, and No. 29 Hayden Hendrick of Colo-NESCO.

Last season, Murty raced her way to a personal record while competing for North Tama in the 2025 Iowa High School Cross Country Championships Class 1A girls race, crossing the finish line 63rd out of 158 competitors with a time of 21:5.90.

The Redhawks girls cross country team missed out on a state berth in 2025 after finishing third at the Class 1A District 7 meet, just behind state-qualifiers Hudson and Lynnville-Sully.

The 2026 state championships will be held at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Friday, Oct. 30 and Saturday, Oct. 31.