After suffering some shin pains from what head coach Trent Taylor said was because of some new running shoes, senior Nick Meling helped lead the Class 2A No. 9 East Marshall boys to a 12th-place finish at the 43rd Bobcat Cross Country Invite on Thursday.

The Mustangs tallied 385 points, besting Class 4A schools Fort Dodge, Southeast Polk and Marshalltown in the process. Meling placed 33rd overall in a time of 17 minutes, 16 seconds. Class 4A No. 2 Dowling Catholic won the meet with 61 points.

“Today we took a step forward on both the boys’ and girls’ sides,” Taylor said. “He was having some shin issues at South Hardin last week, and he was truly disappointed with an eighth-place finish [last week]. But tonight, he was one of the top 1A, 2A runners.”

Meling’s hunger to be one of the best – if not the best – 2A runner in the state shows the pride and dedication, Taylor said, he has for the storied East Marshall running program. The Mustangs won the state cross country title just two years ago. Meling was a sophomore on that team.

Thursday’s meet, held at Marshalltown Community College, was one of the largest in the state this year. With nearly 1,400 runners across boys and girls, varsity and junior varsity, athletes competed across all classes. The Drake Relays for track and field would be a similar comparison to Thursday’s race.

“There’s a little shock when you see almost 1,400 varsity and junior varsity athletes,” Taylor said. “This is bigger than any other meet they’ll see. There’s more bodies here than at the state cross country meet. Luckily, we have boys and girls who have ran in big races, in both programs.”

The BCLUW boys – who are noted as a “team to watch” by the Iowa Track Coaches Association’s week two rankings – came in 15th place with 434 points, just nine behind 4A Southeast Polk. The Comets were led by Ian Showers (51), Grant Baker (74) and Caleb Silver (93). Silver was pushed by teammate Neifer Ralston, who was just four seconds and two spots back of Silver in 95th, running an 18:58.

Silver said Thursday’s marathon-esque of a race challenged him to remain patient and to run his own race, despite the throttling speeds of faster athletes.

“It was tough. It was a lot faster pace,” Silver said. “I don’t think it was my best race, but it was a tough one. Every body’s moving so quick, I just wasn’t used to it.”

Coming from Class 1A, Silver said he’d much rather run in the smaller meets, just because he knows the competition and knows where he should be at within the pack, and when it comes time to make his move.

“It gets me ready for the meets with not as many people,” Silver said. “I’ve ran with a lot of people from a lot of other [area] schools, so I’m just used to running with them. It’s fun to compete with some of my friends from some of the other schools.”

Home team Marshalltown was 18th with 530 points. Head coach Chad Pietig said the Bobcats’ dropped about 45 seconds per runner on each of their times Thursday. Such a feat is not bound to continue each week, and while Marshalltown runners and coach know that, they’re still relishing in the early-season achievement.

“We talked earlier in the week, it was their second time on this course in two weeks,” Pietig said. “Just that experience alone, you should drop some time. And we averaged about 45 seconds.”

Austin Shomo was the lead runner for Marshalltown, coming in at 18:07. Pietig said he was about 56 seconds faster than the last time Shomo was out at the MCC course.

“I’m really happy with that,” Pietig said. “And when you look at that lineup – four freshmen, two sophomores and a junior, against that field, but tonight I knew they’d always have someone to compete with. They weren’t going to get blow away. We weren’t going to stay with those top 10 4A teams, but we competed with the other schools here.”

Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck took 17th, just behind No. 14 (2A) Dike-New Hartford. The Spartans grabbed 450 points, led by senior Dylan Hendricks in a time of 17:50. Finn Cleveland came across in 83rd place in a time of 18:39 and Max Schweppe was third on the team in 19:13.

Iowa Falls-Alden/AGWSR came in 20th with 562 points. The Cadets’ leading runner was Brayden Penning, coming in 92nd with a time of 18:52. Greg Tystahl was 110th and Seth Mazoway was 111th with times of 19:40 and 19:43, respectively, to round out the top three for the Cadets.

GMG was 21st with 595 points. Led by Ethan Karsjen, the sophomore was the lone Wolverine in the top 100. Jackson Edens wasn’t far behind, coming in at the 19:21 mark. Spencer Tweedy was 120th with a time of 20:36.