By Sam Parsons

Oskaloosa High School was represented in the 2026 Iowa High School State Cross Country meets by junior Lane Smith on Saturday in Fort Dodge, and Smith came away with a 9th place finish, earning All-State recognition.

For Smith, it was his second consecutive appearance at the state meet. Last year, he finished in 71st place out of 136 qualifiers with a time of 17:16.5. He shaved over a minute off of his time on Saturday, logging a personal-best time of 16:08.8, good for 9th place out of a field of 134 runners.

Smith is the first All-State cross country runner for Oskaloosa boys cross country since Spencer DeJong earned a 10th place finish in 2014. His time of 16:08.8 is the fastest time in school history at the state meet, besting the previous school record of 16:21 by Skylar DeJong in 2013.