State bid narrowly eludes HCHS cross country boys
ATLANTIC (Oct. 24) -- Thursday’s Class 3A State Qualifying Meet was quite bittersweet for the Harlan Community boys cross country team.
On the positive side, HCHS junior Trey Gross clinched his return to state with a fifth-place showing on the challenging terrain of Atlantic’s Nishna Hills Golf Course. Even sweeter, perhaps, was that senior Isaac Jones also earned a state berth - the last one available - by placing 15th.
The heartbreaker came later when the final team scores were announced.
The 14th-ranked Cyclones tied Atlantic for third place with a team score of 107, but were denied a trip to state based on the tiebreaker of each team’s sixth runner. Just one week earlier, HCHS essentially tied Lewis Central for the Hawkeye Ten Conference title but placed second via the same tiebreaker.
Thursday’s state qualifiers were 2nd-ranked Carlisle (44), No. 5 North Polk (59) and the Trojans (107).
“It’s just a heartbreaker. There’s no other way to describe it,” said HCHS coach Doug Renkly. “These guys work so hard. They believed that they could do it and they did do it. To lose the tiebreaker two weeks in a row is really disheartening, but they have nothing to hang their heads about. They’re tough guys, they’re people of character and they’ll get through this.”
Gross, ranked 14th in 3A, and Jones will now compete in the November 2 state meet at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course north of Fort Dodge (12:30 p.m.). Gross finished 41st out of 131 state runners last year. Jones will be making his first trip to Fort Dodge.
“Obviously it’s sad that we didn’t quite make it (as a team) and that we had the tie, but I know our entire team went out there and gave it their all,” said Gross.
Jones found himself in a tight race for the last few individual state qualifier spots. He ended up 15th (only 15 qualify), holding off Creston’s Clayton Stafford by less than two seconds in 17:46.
Jones described a frantic race to the finish line as he could still hear the runners behind him over a large group of screaming fans.
“I was like, ‘Do I want it? Do I really want it?’ And I just kept telling myself, ‘I’ve wanted it since freshman year," he said.
3A State Qualifying Cross Country Meet • October 24 • Nishna Hills GC • Atlantic
Boys Team Standings - 1. Carlisle 44*, 2. North Polk 59*, 3. Atlantic 107*, 4. Harlan Comm. 107, 5. ADM 120, 6. Glenwood 139, 7. Kuemper Catholic 162, 8. Denison-Schleswig 236, 9. Creston 271, 10. Boone 276, 11. Greene County 308, 12. Saydel 326, 13. Perry 353. * State Qualifiers
Individual State Qualifiers - 1. Nate Mueller (ADM), 15:57; 2. Zach Sporaa (N. Polk), 16:42; 3. Craig Alan Becker (Atl.), 16:44; 4. Kolby Fritz (Carlisle), 16:57; 5. Trey Gross (HCHS), 17:00; 6. Kyle Miller (Carlisle), 17:05; 7. Max Sporaa (N. Polk), 17:09; 8. Brandon Kesner (Carlisle), 17:23; 9. Tyler Putney (Kuemper), 17:25; 10. Sam McIntyre (Glen.), 17:29; 11. Caleb Henderson (N. Polk), 17:31; 12. Tristen Kessler (Carlisle), 17:36; 13. Michael Pottebaum (Kuemper), 17:44; 14. Ethan Schlichte (Carlisle), 17:44; 15. Isaac Jones (HCHS), 17:46.
HCHS Individual Results - 5th: Trey Gross, 17:00.14; 15th: Isaac Jones, 17:46.16; 23rd: Brennon Munch, 18:16.89; 28th: Mitchell Rueschenberg, 18:31.42; 36th: Dalton Gross, 18:38.26; 56th: Kaiden Milliken, 19:53.49; 69th: Reed Boardman, 20:26.04. (5-kilometer times; 91 runners)