New section, same result.
That was the motto for the Jackson County Central boys’ cross country team as it looked to win the section title for the second straight year and advance to the state tournament.
The Huskies won Section 2A last year and, although it was the Section 3A title this year, repeated as section champions.
“We’re thrilled for these guys because they’ve been focused on repeating as section champs since last year,” co-head coach Brad Strom said.
The Huskies won the meet rather easily, finishing with a score of 49, well ahead of Adrian’s 62. Both teams advance to the state meet this Saturday (see preview on B2 of this week's paper).
The Huskies got the job done with a team effort as all five scorers earned all-section honors by finishing in the top 25. In fact, all five runners finished in the top 17.
The Huskies were led by Justin Cook, who finished third in the 5,000-meter race with a time of 17:06.
Matt Kocak was fifth in 17:24 and Marc Strom was 10th in 17:52.
“Our top three finished about where we expected,” co-head coach Kerri Kocak said. “There aren’t many spots for the top three to move up into.”
With three elite runners leading the way, it was the next two Huskies who sealed the deal for JCC.
Sam Hendrickson finished 14th in 18:15 and Jon Troe was 17th in 18:22.
“Sam and Jon finished a bit higher than we expected which really sealed the victory,” Coach Kocak said.
“Did they seal it, yes,” Coach Strom said. “But you can’t do it without 1, 2 and 3.”
Coach Strom said Hendrickson and Troe fed off each other to finish as well as they did.
“Jon went out and had his best first mile in his career,” Strom said, adding that allowed Troe to run with Hendrickson. “That created energy between those two runners and created an ‘I’m going to get the job done’ attitude.”
Coach Strom said the Huskies were more concerned with how they stacked up against the other runners and not necessarily the place they were in.
“We focused on the competition,” he said, adding Hendrickson and Troe knew they needed to hang with Adrian’s third, fourth and fifth runners.
“Jon said he needs to be in the pack with the 3,4,5 guys from Adrian,” Coach Strom said. “He was looking for them and they were looking for him. He created that as his plan.”
“We knew Adrian was really going to challenge our four and five runners,” Coach Kocak said, “And Adrian’s three through five went out really strong. Sam and Jon were right with them, though, and when Sam and Jon hit about 200-meters to go, Sam and Jon made a strong push to the finish and Adrian just couldn’t compete with them.”
Ben Kocak finished 42nd (19:15) and Jordan Snyder was 91st (20:42) for the Huskies.
Even without any one of their top five runners, the Huskies still would have qualified for the state tournament because of Ben Kocak’s performance.
“That shows we have more depth than we sometimes give ourselves credit for,” Coach Strom said.
Coach Strom said all of the Huskies other than Cook, Marc Strom and Matt Kocak turned it down a notch in practice leading up to the meet and credits that with the team’s success.
“We’ve been using a program that’s pretty demanding,” Coach Strom said. “Monday’s workout prior to Thursday meets are the most demanding. They are quality workouts compared to easy workouts. We modified everybody but the top three runners as far as quantity of miles they did. It gave them a little fresher intensity.”
Strom said the results speak for themselves.
“We really liked the results so we’re sticking to it,” he said.
The results were a big win for the Huskies, meaning they didn’t have to sweat it out waiting for the results to be announced.
“It was fun to see that it was more decisive rather than waiting and wondering,” Coach Strom said. “We were smiling because they were strong coming up the hill to the finish line. To feel that good when you saw that position in the last half mile is much more comforting than wondering if we got it done.”
The Huskies and Adrian Dragons both go to state as the top two teams from the section. Worthington finished third (89), with Luverne (165) and Montevideo (169) rounding out the top five of the 17-team tournament.
Huskies earn silver award
The Huskies earned the Silver Academic Award for finishing with a team grade point average of 3.5 to 3.74.
“Not only are they dedicated athletes, but they are good students as well,” Coach Kocak said of the Huskies.
Up next
The Huskies will be running at the state tournament in Northfield Saturday (see preview on B2 of this week's paper).
