For Smith, who had put in extensive training over the summer, the result was somewhat of a surprise but his time of 17:55 was not. Smith’s 17:55 was not only a personal best but was a minute faster than what he ran in the race last season.

“I didn’t know even know I was top-10,” Smith said. “I’m definitely happy I finished top-10. I was working hard on the season. I just tried my best but I’m not satisfied yet.

Marshalltown boys’ cross country coach Chad Pietig somewhat expected the result due to Smith’s summer training and is optimistic that Smith will build off that performance.

“I thought he deserved to run well and break 18 minutes,” Pietig said. “The kid has worked so hard. He’s done everything you want a runner to do. He did a lot of summer miles. He probably went out a little too fast. A little too juiced up but you’d rather do that than go out to slow on the starting line. I think he was running with mostly juniors and seniors who are stronger and more experienced so he’ll catch up to those guys. He put himself in a position to go win.”

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - Marshalltown High School sophomore Conner Smith rounds the second loop of the Marshalltown Community College course at the Bobcat Earlybird Invite on Thursday night. Smith placed seventh in a time of 17 minutes, 55 seconds to lead the Bobcats.

Smith led MHS with a seventh-place finish, but the Bobcats as a team finish seventh out of eight teams. However, the Bobcats had some positives most notably with their No. 2 and No. 3 freshmen runners Antonieh Kopsa and Jason Strand.

“They are fast,” Smith said. “I mean two of them made varsity which surprised me. I’m glad with how they did in the first meet.”

Pietig was not sure what to expect from his young runners but was overall pleased.

“They looked good in practice but you don’t know how they are going to handle the nerves but I think they handled it well,” Pietig said. “They didn’t appear to be too scared at the beginning of this race. They got after it and they were competitive. I think the other three juniors raced well we still have a lot of work to go. There is still a lot of training ahead of us.”

Some other notable local area runner finishes were Grundy Center/GladBrook Reinbeck runners Sam Schildroth who ran 18:26 and Kenny Day who ran 18:30 to finish 14th and 17th place, respectively.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - The Marshalltown boys cross country team takes off from the starting line at Thursday’s Bobcat Earlybird at Marshalltown Community College.

Girls

Much like the boys’ race, leading the way for local area teams was Phoebe Hermanson who finished in fifth place overall.

Hermanson’s 20:54 was almost two minutes faster than her time a season ago.

“I think that is a good starting point,” Hermanson said. “Last year, I ran 22:12 at this meet so I’m pretty happy with it. My goal was top-5. I did 13th last year so that was kind of my plan.”

Hermanson’s strategy in the race was to try and stick with the lead pack, but the lead runners managed to pull away, but it still helped her push her time.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck sophomore Taylor Stahl ascends a slight incline on Thursday at the Bobcat Earlybird meet at Marshalltown Community College.

“My plan was to try and stick with the lead group but they had a really nice start,” Hermanson said. “I know the two twins [Alli and Grace Bookin-Nosbich of Ottoumwa] they are really fast 800m runners so I stuck with the Roosevelt runner for a while and I tried to break her on the pond loop and I lost her there. I was feeling pretty good. I was trying to survive the hills since there are some pretty big hills back there and then finish strong.”

Marshalltown girls coach Stacy O’Hare was pleased with both Hermanson’s performance and the rest of the Bobcat team.

“I think all around I think we had a pretty good night,” O’Hare said. “A lot of individual performances that I thought were really well. I thought Pheobe ran an outstanding race. Looking back a year ago she ran about 2 minutes faster than she did a year ago so we couldn’t be happier with her performance.”

Another notable finish for the Bobcats was No. 2 runner Rachel Smith who ran a 23:52.

“Rachel Smith, a sophomore, didn’t run cross country last year stepped in and was our No. 2 runner tonight so she ran really well,” Smith said. “Not really familiar with the course but she ran really well. Up and down with JV and varsity I thought we ran well.”

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

The Bobcats led all local area teams with a fourth-place team finish out of eight teams.

“Overall [they did] better than what I expected,” O’Hare said. “There are a few individuals that can still show some more improvement but overall as a team, I thought it was pretty good.”

Other notable finishes for local area teams was Taylor Stahl of Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck who finished in 13th place with a time of 22:12. South Tama County was led by Callie Frakes who ran 22:14 and Alyssa Chyma who ran 22:44 to place 14th and 20th, respectively.

11th Marshalltown Earlybird

At Marshalltown

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

GIRLS

Team Standings — 1. Ottumwa 44, 2. Des Moines Roosevelt 45, 3. Urbandale 53, 4. Marshalltown 122, 5. South Tama 160, 6. Waterloo East/West 164, Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck 174, Webster City 200.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Alli Bookin-Nosbisch, OTT, 19:19; 2. Arianna Jackson, DSR, 20:02; 3. Grace Bookin-Nosbich, OTT, 20:11; 4. Carollin Mellin, OTT, 20:21; 5. Phoebe Hermanson, MHS, 20:54; 6. Abi Hahn, DMR, 21:01; 7. Erin Van Quathem, URB, 21:16; 8. Jaden Scharingson, URB, 21:20; 9. Elle Green, DMR, 21:53, 10. Anna Gilbreath, DMR, 22:00.

MARSHALLTOWN (122) — 5. Phoebe Hermanson 20:54, 25. Rachel Smith 23:42, 29. Makenna Ainsworth 24:14, 31. Odaly Flores 24:30, 32. Kaci Uhde 24:58, 33. Jade Tejada 25:14, 34. Mary Kate Gruening 25:16.

SOUTH TAMA COUNTY (160) — 14. Callie Frakes 22:14, 20. Alyssa Chyma 22:44, 30. JoJo Tyynismaa 24:26, 47. Abbigail Froelich 28:24, 49. Neena Lasley 28:48, 50. Makayla Backen 30:03.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

GRUNDY CENTER/GLADBROOK REINBECK (174) — 13. Taylor Stahl 22:12, 36. Bella Dole 26:13, 37. Abbie Lindeman 26:23, 43. Paiton Wallis 27:27, 45. Emma Beck 27:57, 48. Lauren Wegmann 28:42.

BOYS

Team Standings — 1. Southeast Polk 31, 2. Urbandale 40, 3. Ottumwa 97, 4. Webster City 111, 5. Grundy Center/Gladbrook-Reinbeck 131, 6. Waterloo East/West 135, 7. Marshalltown 180, 8. South Tama 189.

Individual (top 10) — 1. Payton Marrs, URB, 16:18; 2. Drake Hanson, SEP, 16:51; 3. Sam Schweizer, URB, 17:24; 4. Chase Bartlett, SEP, 17:40; 5. Reece Knepper, URB, 17:45; 6. Cade Mash, SEP, 17:53; 7. Conner Smith, MHS, 17:55; 8. Asa Canny, OTT, 18:02; 9. Carson Owens, SEP, 18:06; 10. Caden Mitchell, SEP, 18:11.

GRUNDY CENTER/GLADBROOK-REINBECK (131) — 14. Sam Schildroth 18:26, 17. Kenny Day 18:30, 26. Paul Brockett 19:19, 32. Ethan Sadler 19:34, 42. Soren Cleveland 20:10, 52. Brandon Strohbehn 21:54, 53. Jeryn Spear 23:08.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

MARSHALLTOWN (180) — 7. Conner Smith 17:55, 40. Antonieh Kopsa 20:08, 43. Jason Strand 20:10, 44. Ethan Benscoter 20:13, 46. Freddy Ross 20:27, 49. Noah Hermenson 21:00.

SOUTH TAMA COUNTY (192) — 25. Garrett Arp 19:12, 34. Tyrin Lasley 19:38, 38. Jonathan Meyer 19:49, 41. Trusten Rosenberger 20:09, 51. Logan Arp 21:46.

T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE

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