T-R FILE PHOTO - Marshalltown’s Conner Smith, left, runs the state cross country course on Oct. 30, 2020, at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. Smith snapped the Bobcats’ nine-year drought by qualifying for state last fall, placing 58th in Class 4A.

The hot summer weather in August is something of a tradition in Central Iowa. But as the Marshalltown High School cross country teams prepare for the season, it has made an impact on the boys’ and girls’ teams and their strategies for the season opener: the Bobcat Early Bird.

For the girls’ team, the first meet won’t have much of an impact on the team standings. The reason? Marshalltown is running just two varsity runners — senior Rachel Smith and junior Micah Blevins. The Bobcats will run a full junior varsity squad.

Star senior Phoebe Hermanson is dealing with a lingering hip injury, one that will require further testing to see if she can run this fall. Grace Rasmussen will also not run varsity in the first meet, as head coach Stacy O’Hare said multiple potential varsity runners are not at their peak condition for various reasons. It’s made it tough for the team to have time trials or establish a real pecking order.

The result is that this meet will serve as a time trial for the runners attempting to fill out the varsity squad, where O’Hare will then see how the times stack up.

“I would think that after this week the kids will start to get back into a routine with school starting and things like that,” O’Hare said. “Practice has been good, the kids have worked hard. It’ll be a chance for them to prove to me who wants to join varsity and who wants to fill the rest of those five spots.”

A similar message about the meet is coming from Chad Pietig and the boys.

The Bobcat boys have a clear group of four returners with multiple years of varsity experience — Conner Smith (a 2020 state meet qualifier), Anthoneih Kopsa, Marco Herrera and Jason Strand.

Smith is the undisputed leader of the team, and Pietig said he’s been on his game in practices ahead of Thursday’s invite. The rest of the returners have been pushed by Pietig to take a step up and help the Bobcats make strides as a unit.

“I’ve shared with them several times, ‘You need to take advantage of the fact that you have such a good No. 1 runner,'” Pietig said. “It’s an opportunity for the team to do well as a team if the other guys do their jobs. I think they have responded well to that challenge.”

Pietig said the Bobcats have more numbers than they have for a few years, and about half of the runners are doing cross country for the first time. This has made the getting-up-to-speed process more varied, as some are in peak condition and some are still learning the ropes. Pietig said there have been three or four levels of groups at practice because of the large number of participants.

The back-end of the varsity lineup also has not been decided.

A number of runners are still competing for the final three spots following the core four — and having not done any time trials ahead of the Bobcat Early Bird (Pietig said the team wasn’t in a place to take up a whole practice day with trials), Thursday will be the first test for those trying to stake their claim.

In essence, much like the girls’ team, the Bobcats will be using the Early Bird as a time trial to gauge where the runners are at. It’s the first meet on a very difficult schedule, and Pietig wants his group to be at their best when it matters most.

“That’s how we’ll run it,” Pietig said. “I know for sure who the first four [on varsity] are, I think I know who number five is, and I have no idea who six and seven are. And there’s probably six or seven guys who can fight for those spots. Tomorrow’s going to be about gaining experience.”

The Bobcat Early Bird starts at 4:30 at Marshalltown Community College with the JV girls. Varsity girls run at 5:30 p.m. and varsity boys run at 6 p.m.