Gross leads wire-to-wire, wins H-10 individual crown
GLENWOOD (Oct. 11) -- A year ago at Clarinda, Harlan Community’s Trey Gross placed 26th as a freshman in the Hawkeye Ten Conference Cross Country Meet.
Sometime after that day, a rededication to running was born and the results have been swift.
On Thursday, Gross made history at Glenwood Lake Park, becoming just the second Cyclone boy to win an individual conference meet title. The HCHS sophomore basically led wire-to-wire, winning the five-kilometer race with a time of 16:57.11. Connor Lancial of Lewis Central placed second in 17:00.84, followed by LC’s Aiden Rudloff in third.
The Cyclones also fared well as a team, placing fourth with a score of 105.
Gross joins Coby Carstens (1997) on the short list of HCHS boys to earn a Hawkeye Ten championship.
“Even when I was in eighth grade I got second (at conference), so it’s a great feeling, but this wasn’t my main goal,” he said. “My main goal (is) to get to state, so there’s still work to be done. I hope to make it to state and do well.”
Thursday’s accomplishment - and a season full of top 10 finishes - has resulted from a lot of hard work since last October.
“Last year as a freshman, I didn’t push myself as (much as) I did in eighth grade,” Gross admitted. “Sometime in the off-season I just had this epiphany (that) I wanted to be a good runner and this is what I want to do, so I started working really hard (in) track and in the summer."
Hawkeye Ten Conf. Boys Team Standings
1. Lewis Central 45, 2. Glenwood 66, 3. Atlantic 83, 4. Harlan Comm. 105, 5. St. Albert 108, 6. Red Oak 145, 7. Denison-Schl. 169, 8. Shenandoah 205, 9. Kuemper Catholic 246, 10. Creston 271, 11. Clarinda 286.
Top 5 Individuals
1. Trey Gross (HCHS), 16:57; 2. Connor Lancial (LC), 17:00; 3. Aiden Rudloff (LC), 17:05; 4. Jalen Petersen (Atlantic), 17:11; 5. Parson Covington (Glenwood), 17:12.
HCHS Individual Results
1st: Trey Gross, 16:57.11; 20th: Brennon Munch, 18:06.06; 21st: Isaac Jones, 18:07.21; 26th: Mitchell Rueschenberg, 18:15.86; 37th: Wyatt Obrecht, 18:42.21; 42nd: Dalton Gross, 18:52.31; 73rd: Tim Mumm, 21:18.18.