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CHARLES CITY PRESS | WWW.CHARLESCITYPRESS.COM | TUESDAY, MARCH 25, 2025
Graeser, Williams successfully complete four-year SQ terms
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com
Sometimes a freshman year will determine the course of one’s high school career. Xander Graeser and Nick Williams may not have known what they were getting into when, as Charles City fresh- men in the fall of 2021, they both quali fi ed as individuals for the State Cross Country Championships. That meant they “were on pace” to become four-time quali fi ers by the time they reached their senior seasons. Only one other Charles City cross country male runner had quali fi ed for state as an individual – Comet legend Isaac Wendland, a three-time state champion and one of the most decorated XC and track runners in Iowa high school history. So there was really no pres- sure on Graeser and Williams. Or was there? “I was really nervous going into this race,” Graeser said of the 2024 Class 3A State-Qual- i fi er at Wartburg College’s XC course. “I feel that for every state-qualifying race.” BOTH RUNNERS HAD BATTLED injuries and illnesses through- out the season, so getting that fourth berth was by no means a given. Nonetheless, Graeser and Williams not only accom- plished their dual quest for a fourth-straight berth, but did so in grand fashion. Graeser placed fourth with a 5K time of 16 minutes, 14 seconds, and Williams placed sixth with a time of 16 min- utes, 22 seconds. Both are substantial im- provements from the person- al-records each runner set earlier this season that had already placed them amid the Top 50 Comet male XC times. The SQ performances moved
Press photo by John Burbridge Charles City seniors Nick Williams, left, and Xander Graeser have their names posted on the Charles City leaderboard at Comet Field as four-time State Cross Country Meet individual quali fi ers.
Team efforts yield Comet rushing record for Deacon Caspers Press photo by John Burbridge Charles City junior Deacon Caspers has his eyes wide open with the end zone in sight during a home game against Algona. Caspers set a Comet single-season record with 1,365 yards this past season.
them both up the list as Graes- er, who improved 16 seconds from his previous PR, is now ranked 16th; Williams, who improved 14 seconds, now sits at 28th. “I feel a big weight has been lifted off my shoulders,” Williams said. At the subsequent State XC Championships at Lakeside Municipal Park in Fort Dodge, Williams fi nished 31st with a time of 16 minutes, 46 sec- onds, and Graeser placed 50th with a time of 17 minutes, 7 seconds in their fi nal prep XC race of their careers. “I thought it was a good race for me,” said Williams, who was named 2024 Aca- demic All-State in XC by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches. “The weather condi- tions were good for running, and it’s always an honor to be in a race like this.” Williams’s time was 7 seconds slower than person- al-best state meet time his junior year where he fi nished 25th. Graeser senior perfor- mance at the state meet was
his fastest. “Both I am going to miss very much,” Charles City head coach Ryan Rahmiller said after the state meet. “Great athletes, but just a bright spot in my day in the fall to get to spend the afternoon with these past four years. “This (whole) senior group is a great group of people; re- liable, fun to work with and be around.” • IT WAS A REBUILDING YEAR for the Charles City girls cross country team, which competed primarily as a junior varsity unit. The Comet girls did fi eld an incomplete varsity team at the Wartburg SQer. Sophomore Megan Bab- cock, who has dropped nearly two minutes off her person- al-record time from the season before, was the fi rst Comet to complete the course with a time of 23:33. Freshman Kin- ley Roths, whose 68th-place time of 24:33 was a PR, and Karina Ibarra’s 73rd-place time of 26:14, were the other two Comet female participants.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com Say what you will about O.J. Simpson, but when he became the fi rst NFL/AFL running back to breach 2,000 rushing yards in a season, Simp- son often used the pronoun “we” when referring to the accomplishment. Charles City junior running back Deacon Caspers also made sure to give credit where it was due when he broke Taylor Manning’s sin- gle-season Comet rushing record set in 2008 by compiling 1,365 yards while averaging 5.1 yards per carry. “It’s a great honor and I couldn’t have done it without my offensive line,” Caspers said shortly after he eclipsed Manning’s record during a loss to Hampton-Dumont-CAL in the second-to-last game of the regular season. Caspers and the Comets started out of the gate fast with Caspers already gaining more than 800 yards four games into the season and Charles City starting out 3-0 after defeating Waterloo West 32-8. But facing a series of state-ranked opponents in the latter half of their schedule, the Comets lost six straight while fi nishing 3-6. “We won the games we were supposed to win,” Charles City head coach Bryan Bjorklund said.
“We would have liked to have gotten another and we were in position to do so at Webster City” where the Comets surged to take a 21-20 sec- ond-half lead over the Lynx before falling 41-21. “But I think we made progress from last sea- son, especially when it came to moving the ball on offense,” he said. This season, the Comets compiled 2,131 total yards on offense while averaging nearly 237 total yards per game. Caspers and senior teammate lineman Trevor Carolan were named to the Class 3A-District 2 Football First Team. Comets named Class 3A-District Football Hon- orable Mention included senior linebacker and running back Brayden Ellis, junior offensive line- man and linebacker Bennett Hansen, senior wide receiver and defensive back Kaden Littleton and senior tight end and linebacker Kamden Meek. Comets named Academic All-District include seniors Trevor Carolan and Jose Flores; juniors Blake Dean, Bennett Hansen, Luke Jacobs, Nolan Schmiedel and Bryce Walker; and sophomores Patrick Bruening, Silas Cleveland, Brady Han- son, Tyler Heitz, Ian Hallett, Carson Linde, Hen- ry Ruzicka and Peyton Sargent. Criteria for Academic All-District includes a 3.25 cumulative grade-point-average or higher.
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