The War Eagle Conference individual boys cross country title went to a hometown kid as MMCRU’s Lucas Braun won the championship on his home meet in Marcus on Thursday night.
Braun was in a pack of four or five runners for most of the first half of the race. After that, Braun put a sizable gap on the rest of the field winning the title by 20 seconds. He says he was pacing himself to be able to find another gear that no one else had later in the race.
That ability to find another pace late in the race comes from a steady schedule of work put in during practice.
The Royals took home second place as a team getting a fourth-place finish from Clint Staab and a 13th-place finish from Conner Galles who both earned All-Conference. Braun says both those guys have stepped into their roles and then some this season.
Braun is hoping to keep the Royals state-bound after making it to Fort Dodge last year individually. The parameters for qualifying in Class 1A are very tight, so Braun knows it will take a strong race. He says being able to have something left late in the race will be key to get back to Fort Dodge.
MMCRU will run their state qualifying race in Holstein on October 24 at 4:00 PM.