FORT DODGE — As soon as she crossed the finish line of the Class 4A girls race at the 2025 Iowa high school cross country championships, Dallas Center-Grimes runner Piper Messerly went straight for the trash can.

The DCG junior gave everything she had to finish the race and claim her second individual state title in a row.

"That pretty much last mile, I knew I was feeling good, so I just went for it," Messerly said. "I took charge and I really started to push the pace because I knew that if I got away, they weren't going to catch me."

Messerly spent the first two-thirds of the race in a tight pack. Waukee Northwest's Laney Sundet, her teammate Tenley Heidgerken, Davenport Central's Joley Sullivan, Northwest's Emmy Stubbendeck, Dubuque senior's Emma Chesterman, Ankeny Centennial's Ellie

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