An 11th-place finish for Highland’s Brock Nebergall, third among 1A and 2A runners, highlighted results for Highland, Lone Tree and Hillcrest at the Fairfield “Ron Hunerdosse” Cross Country Invite.
The meet marked the first of the year for both Highland and Lone Tree after heat-related cancellations earlier this year.
Nebergall, who is also playing for the Highland/Lone Tree football team as a return man, broke his PR for the Fairfield course with a time of 18:10, significantly faster than he’s been at similar points in the year in previous seasons at Lone Tree and just 30 seconds off of his 5k best of 17:40, which he ran at the North Linn state qualifier last fall.
“I just trusted my practice and workouts, and it worked out,” Nebergall said. “In previous years, the first meet I usually died out in the last mile or mile and a half. Today I think I held it well and held it long enough to be up there in the front pack with those faster kids from bigger schools.”
Hillcrest’s Marie Yoder was the top area girls’ finisher, coming in 15th with a time of 21:57. That finish was good for 6th among 1A and 2A runners at the meet.
“There’s definitely room to improve over the season, but I think it was a good start,” Yoder said.
The Hillcrest boys’ top trio of Braden Hartsock, Troy Yoder and Calvin Meller came in 22nd, 24th and 25th overall after running as a pack throughout the race, picking off runners together as they approached the finish line. Those finishes were good for 8th, 9th and 10th among 1A and 2A runners. That strong finish from the team’s top three propelled the Ravens to a 3rd place team finish in the 1A/2A division, the best among area teams.
“We had several [runners] that were running according to a plan that was specific for them, and they executed it well,” Raven coach Marty Gingerich said. “It was good to compete at a meet that we’re used to going to.”
Hillcrest previously ran at the Pella meet on Sept. 5 after their home meet was cancelled.
Grace Bombei, the top girls’ finisher for Highland, finished 30th overall and 11th among 1A/2A runners with a time of 23:01.
The Husky boys finished in fifth as a team. Nebergall and Noah Hartzler, the latter of whom came in just behind the Highland pack in 26th overall, were unable to make up for a large gap behind them causing the team’s score to skyrocket. Still, coach Angela Strobel was pleased with the Huskies’ performance.
“I was feeling like we went in prepared, and it turns out we did,” Strobel said. “Their times were faster than they were last year on this same course having a couple meets in before getting here.”
Ruby Hall had the best finish among Lone Tree runners in 59th place with a time of 25:09. Max Poock was the top Lion boy, coming in 152nd with a time of 24:13.
“I think they ran great,” first-year head coach Sara Sublette said. “I think everybody got those jitters out, we were going to have them.”
Neither the Lone Tree boys nor any of the three girls’ teams had enough runners to register a team score.
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