It's the kind of reliability any coach desires.

And now, Bob Weidman wants to ride it to the next level.

For the sixth consecutive year, the St. Albert cross country coach leads his boys team into Saturday's Class 1-A state cross country meet at Kennedy Park in Fort Dodge.

The second-ranked Falcons have two fifth-, two seventh- and one sixth-place finish in the past five years. Undoubtedly, that familiarity should pay off Saturday because of the team's knowledge of the course.

"It helps," Weidman said. "It gives us a little bit of confidence going in, knowing that we've been there. We experienced an unfamiliar course at districts, so it's nice that we've seen the course."

Despite the new venue, the Falcons pulled off a victory at last Thursday's state-qualifying meet in Panora. St. Albert's five scored runners placed in the top 21, and it's that kind of consistency displayed in the Falcons' lineup from top to bottom that has Weidman optimistic heading into state.

"This year, the guys have really focused on being a good, solid team from one to seven," he said. "Honestly, coming in, we knew Josh (Sindelar) would be our leader barring injury. But other than that, they've focused on, at the end of the day, one through seven ran a good race."

The Iowa Association of Track Coaches No. 6 runner in 1-A, Sindelar won last week's state-qualifying meet and has state experience. Sindelar finished 39th in 2009 but made a drastic improvement in 2010 as a sophomore, finishing seventh overall. He's striving for a better result in 2011.

"I'm hoping for a great finish," Sindelar said. "I'd kind of like to be up there. I finished seventh last year, and I'd definitely like to do better than that.

"I've run over there two years, and each year (I) ran my best time of the year. I like running there. It's always a quicker course."

Sindelar will be joined in Fort Dodge by teammates Joe Avey, Adam Christensen, George Doll, Gus Doll, Pat Martin and Scott Theulen, who is ranked 26th in 1-A. After suffering a hip injury earlier this season, Theulen has been a consistent runner behind Sindelar. He finished seventh at the state-qualifying meet.

"Scott's had a great year," Weidman said. "He missed a few meets early, but he rebounded, got back into the racing and has continued to progress. He's running the way we thought he would run right now."

Another southwest Iowa team to qualify for Fort Dodge in 1-A is No. 5 Riverside, which finished second behind the Falcons last week. The Bulldogs boast three runners ranked in the top 30 in the state: Cade Cleaveland (20th), John Gunderson (21st) and Ean Patrick (30th).

Riverside also qualified Dallas Dietz, Ean Johnson, Carl Rowe and Brady Ryun, and coach Alex Oliver said that if his squad can maintain the pack-style running that earned them success most of the year, the results could be favorable Saturday.

"My feeling is if we have three of those guys that far to the front, it's going to be really conducive to their style of racing," he said. "I really think our 4 and 5 will gut it out and give us a great race.

"Cade Cleaveland has been solid all year. He's had a great season so far, and I look forward to good things out of him."

A new-look Glenwood roster qualified for the 3-A field and is ranked sixth in the state. Senior Mark Abrams will look to improve on a 21st-place showing from last year. Joining Abrams is David Barrett, James Fuller, Pascal Oosterik, Jeff Reeve, Jakob Rhodes and Brady Wheeler.

Fifth-ranked Sioux City Heelan also qualified as a team in 3-A.

Shenandoah-Essex's Sean Skillern, ranked 18th in the state, will try to have another top 10 finish after placing eighth in 2-A in 2010 as a sophomore. He's running in the 3-A field this year.

In Class 2-A, OA-BCIG qualified as a team, and Red Oak sophomore Alex Jorgensen qualified individually.

And in 1-A, Nodaway Valley sophomore T.J. Bower, ranked 25th in the state, qualified individually.