Jungling claims NICL 3-peat; A-P girls 2nd

WAVERLY – The North Iowa Cedar League brought incredible cross country talent to the Max Championship Cross Country Course in Waverly on Saturday.

For a third-consecutive season, however, it was Aplington-Parkersburg's Sophia Jungling separating from the crowd.

Jungling, a junior, won Saturday's girls race for her third consecutive NICL championship, one of three Falcons in the top ten that pushed A-P to a runner-up finish in the team standings.

A-P scored 99 points, trailing Jesup's final score of 57 points. Dike-New Hartford claimed fifth with 108 points.

Denver's Grace Beck finished 25 seconds after Jungling to take runner-up, with D-NH's Taylor Kvale third in 20:12.

The Falcons' Megan Johnson ran sixth in 20:31 and Lily Hovenga finished in 21:01 for 10th place as part of the All-NICL first team, honors given to the top-10 individuals in each race.

Winning another league title was all in the mindset, Jungling said.

"I didn't go to the football game last night," Jungling said, "because I wanted to make sure I was getting in the right mindset, I wanted to start strong and build mile after mile."

Rounding out the top five were Miranda Oldenburger in 40th in 22:44 and Sommer Stotler in 42nd in 22:50.

Those were key contributions to A-P's team finish as only nine points separated the Falcons in second from the Wolverines in fifth place.

"For us to come out today knowing that my team was all in it together, that there's no selfish thoughts, it's amazing to have a team like this," Jungling said.

Read more in this week's Eclipse.

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