Led by a top-15 finish from senior John Moellers, the Bobcats finished 13th as a team in the Class 4A boys race on Friday afternoon at Lakeside Golf Course.

Marshalltown scored a 275 team total and Moellers earned an individual medal with a 15th-place run in 15:50.

Most importantly, the Bobcats beat their projected finish of 15th out of 15 teams, a common theme this fall of the Marshalltown boys being underestimated in an admittedly loaded 4A field. The Bobcats beat out 12th-seeded Johnston and 9th-seeded Indianola and were a single point behind Waukee in 12th.

“If the guys finished last, then people could say, ‘Oh, see, they shouldn’t have been here,'” MHS head coach Chad Pietig said. “And we didn’t think we would finish last — we knew there were two or three teams that we could beat and we ended up 13th and a point out of 12th. … As a team, it didn’t seem like the moment was too big for these guys.”

At the two-mile mark, Pietig called out to Moellers that he needed to catch seven runners to get into that top 15.

Moellers said he was a little uncertain when he could only see six, with the seventh 100 meters ahead.

“I was like, ‘Oh no,'” Moellers said with a laugh. “I didn’t know if that’d be possible. But our group of six started pushing really hard, and once we caught up with that seventh I just started going. I knew if I pushed right before the end, I wouldn’t have to worry about it at the very end. I just gave it everything.”

He entered the finish chute with runners like Cedar Falls’ Connor Martin and Dowling’s Charlie Deick trying to match him in stride.

“Sometimes you can space out during a race, but [at the finish] I could hear every single person,” Moellers said, “and I was using that to my advantage, and I saw my teammates halfway down yelling at me and it was like, ‘Alright, gotta go. Gotta do this for the team, this is my last cross country race.”

T-R PHOTOS BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown’s Carter Nunn, right, and Kieran DeGroote of Cedar Falls run stride for stride during Friday’s Class 4A state cross country meet at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. Nunn placed 27th in a time of 16 minutes, 3.4 seconds.

With a final look back at Martin and Deick, Moellers kept his legs churning and let out one big exhale before dropping to the ground to collect himself as a state medalist.

“John had the race of his life,” Pietig said. “With about 400 to go, I didn’t know if he’d catch those last two spots. But what an honor for that senior to go out that way.”

Carter Nunn followed Moellers in 27th in 16:03. Preston Johnson was 70th in 16:37, Parker Gooding 114th in 17:22 and Myles Goldman was the last scorer in 128th in 18:29. Caleb Rasmussen and Carson Wright were non-scorers in 129th in 19:01 and 130th in 20:05, respectively.

Nunn matched his personal best, while Johnson’s finish was a setback for the Bobcat sophomore who came into the race ranked ninth but has been battling a cold all week and popped a fever last night.

“I’m glad I just got through the race,” Johnson said. “It would’ve been better than not running at all, but just a really bad time.”

T-R PHOTOS BY JAKE RYDER - Marshalltown senior Parker Gooding, center, runs with a pack during Friday’s Class 4A state cross country meet in Fort Dodge. Gooding placed 114th but scored 88th for the Bobcats, who were 13th in the final team standings.

Even if his individual performance wasn’t where he hoped, Johnson was pleased to see the team proving its mettle.

“We’re showing that we’ll be here for a few more years and get back to where Marshalltown used to be,” Johnson said. “I’ll be coming back next year with feeling and putting in the work like I did this year.”

Gooding was the other varsity senior running on Friday.

“I’ve been running since I was a freshman, dropping time consistently, and I’ve just been waiting to come to the state meet and run,” Gooding said. “It was a really fun experience. … I feel like in the last few years we’ve really changed the Marshalltown culture, and this year changed it even more.”

Four of Marshalltown’s returning five from varsity next year will be seniors, led by Nunn.

“Top 30 was my goal so doing that was a big goal of mine,” Nunn said. “This is like nothing I’ve ran before, a great atmosphere, the crowd is literally everywhere, a really fun experience. I just wanted to get that experience today, get ready for track, and then be back here next year.”

Cedar Falls ran to the team title with 73 points, followed by Dowling Catholic (91) and Cedar Rapids Prairie (122). Ankeny’s Ethan Zuber won his second state title with a 15:01 finish; Jaden Merrick of Cedar Falls was second in 15:08.