Lake Mills senior Krister Beal overcame a late-race collapse to qualify for the Iowa state cross country meet.

Beal, a three-time North Iowa All-Conference selection, took 10th place out of 141 runners with a time of 17:56 Thursday at the Class 1A state qualifying meet at Cedar Falls.

“He ran his race and got up to fourth place,” said Lake Mills coach Parker Comentino. “After he collapsed, he fought and clawed his way to finish line. He was dehydrated but is doing well now. It was a little scary.”

The top 15 individuals and the top three teams — Denver, Hudson and Dunkerton — qualified for the Iowa’s state cross country meet.

The qualifying rules differ from Minnesota, where the top eight runners at the section meet qualify for state. If an individual is already qualifying with his team, his individual place doesn’t count toward the top eight individuals in Minnesota, which means the No. 9 finisher will qualify.

In Iowa, that’s not the case. Additional runners do not qualify because other runners already qualified through their team finish.

Comentino said Bulldogs junior Jake Wick also competed at the state qualifying meet and took 103rd place.

The state meet will be Oct. 31 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The boys’ Class 1A race is slated for 2:30 p.m. with an awards ceremony at 3 p.m.

“He’s not just going down there for a run,” Comentino said about Beal. “He’s going down there to compete.”