BOONE, Iowa - The Joint Boys and Girls State Cross Country Championships run for the 30th consecutive year and more than 6,000 fans are expected to be on hand to encourage their hometown heroes and heroines, Saturday.  The Class 4A girls is the first race at 11 a.m. over the course layouts at Lakeside Golf Course, north of Fort Dodge.
  
This championship is a classy as any of those that grace the prep landscape in our state. Today also marks the 79th year the IHSAA has conducted a state cross country championship, and the 43rd time the IGHSAU has crowned winners. Each was among the first in the nation and in terms of competitors and fans, it is America's largest prep gathering of its kind at one time on one course.