When the starting gun fired, Krister Beal became the seventh Lake Mills male cross country runner to compete at the state’s highest level.

Beal finished 60th out of 152 runners with a time of 18:06.2 Saturday at the Class 1A state meet at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa.

Beal, a senior, said the trip was four years in the making.

“It was my goal since freshman year to make it down there,” he said. “I was really excited to go.”

Bulldogs coach Parker Comentino said Beal trained all year.

“Every day he was out working hard and set a good example for our younger returning runners as to what they should do during the season and in the offseason,” he said.

At state, Beal planned to be patient and pass runners throughout the course.

“The strategy was to do the same thing I did all year: not get out too fast and move up during the race,” Beal said. “That’s what happened, but I didn’t move up quite as far as I wanted to.”

Although Beal missed his goal of finishing in the top 15, he finished in the top half of the field.

To qualify for state, the three-time All-Conference — twice in North Iowa and once in Top of Iowa — performer finished 10th out of 141 runners Oct. 22 at the Class 1A state qualifying meet in Cedar Falls.

Comentino said Beal is one of six three-time All-Conference performers for the Lake Mills boys’ team and that Beal set his personal best time on Sept. 24 at Central Springs in 17:20, which was the seventh-fastest time in school history during the 5K era.

Along with cross country in the fall, Beal said he will compete with the Bulldogs’ track and field team this spring.

After graduation, Beal said he plans to attend Iowa State University to major in engineering. At the collegiate level, he said he plans to participate in intramurals but not organized sports.