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Round 1 goes to Decker

Johnson learns from second place at star-studded Bobcat Invite

By Ross Thede 7 min read

The only finish line that matters is in Fort Dodge.

Marshalltown senior Preston Johnson is training to be the first runner to that one, but he's taking steps to learn how to do it along the way.

The reigning Class 4A state cross country runner-up ran into his best competition since last season's state meet on Thursday night at the 53rd running of the Bobcat Invite and settled for second place again. Johnson clocked in with a time of 15 minutes, 22.8 seconds, to trail only Iowa City Liberty senior Keegan Decker (15:18.1) in a star-studded showdown at the Marshalltown Community College course.

Johnson and Decker finished 2-3 in last year's state meet after running the third- and fourth-fastest times in Iowa history, and Thursday's rematch was just another page of a prequel to a story that will unfold on Saturday, Oct. 31, at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.

Johnson, though second in the Bobcat Invite for the second consecutive year, was all smiles.

"Today was just to see where we're at, learn about Keegan, learn about myself and an early test of the season," Johnson said. "What do we need to work on? Truly just a lesson because what really matters is obviously the state meet."

Last year's state meet was well represented on Thursday night, with five top-15 finishers from last year's finale and 10 qualifying teams. Second-ranked Cedar Falls edged No. 1 Dowling Catholic for the team title, 107-116, while Decker flipped the script on Johnson, too.

"I'd always rather have someone like Jaden (Merrick) or Keegan beat me right now than at state," Johnson said. "Obviously getting second sucks, but at the end of the day it's just a lesson. It is what it is. Keegan's a very great competitor and it's always fun racing him, so I'm really looking forward to racing him in the future."

Decker won last year's only regular-season, head-to-head meeting with Johnson at the Steve Johnson Invitational in Waverly, and they'll both be there again this fall. Iowa City Liberty jumped at the chance to get into the Bobcat Invite so its standout could get more competition, too.

There was plenty of that to be had on Thursday at MCC, with 22 of the 30 ranked 4A boys and 16 of the 20 rated teams according to the most recent release by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches. Johnston's Jack Crossland, who was fifth at state, came in third (15:39.6), and Dominic Williams of Cedar Falls, who was 10th at state, took fourth (15:46.5).

"That level of runners, they don't get to push each other very often," said MHS head coach Chad Pietig. "We'll see Jack again at Pella, but then we won't see Keegan again until Wartburg. They need to see each other once in a while. Line them up and let them race early and give them something. They've been training too and they get tired of going out and beating up on everybody.

"This atmosphere, the environment, it's a state meet atmosphere. Our guys need to feel that pressure, they need to feel that excitement, deal with that adrenaline, and that's one of the reasons we started building this meet up because we wanted to create that environment to give our guys and everybody else that sense of what it's like. This is what you're going to feel at the state meet."

As a team, Marshalltown finished 20th out of 24 scoring teams with 467 points, finishing ahead of the other Iowa Alliance Conference schools in attendance: Des Moines Roosevelt (578), Fort Dodge (588), Des Moines Lincoln (735), Des Moines Hoover (763) and Des Moines North (no score).

The Bobcats also got season-, meet- or course-best times from four of their varsity runners, starting with sophomore Costin Piscitelli. He placed 45th with a personal-best time of 16:43.4, breaking the 16:45 mark he had targeted for the Oct. 21 state-qualiying meet that will be held at MCC.

"16:45 was the time that we wrote down this summer, and he went 16:43," Pietig said. "That was his target for districts on this course. There's no guarantees (of getting to state), but that at least puts him in that conversation. He ran 17:08 here two weeks ago, so this was a fantastic race for him. He looked so smooth, so in control … so I was just so, so happy for him."

Michael Downs finished 127th in 18:14.5, just three seconds shy of the time he ran in the Bobcat Early Bird, and fellow junior Thomas Stanley took 146th in 19:03.8, also three seconds back of the Early Bird.

Sophomore Connor Faas was 151st in 19:33.5 -- a new personal record -- while seniors Elliot Kodis (154th, 20:52.3) and Cooper McLeod (162nd, 22:13.0) rounded out the squad.

"Michael basically tied his time from two weeks ago, and he just needs to trust is training and go for it once," Pietig said. "And if he will, just like Costin did, he'll see that it's right there and it's pretty fun and it'll relieve a lot of that worry and stress. There's nothing wrong with his time, but he trains with Costin and it's right there. He's got to trust himself and believe in himself and once that happens, we'll have another one under 17 (minutes).

"I'd like to see the rest of our guys start faster, and that's something we're going to have to work on between now and districts. It's a lot easier to pass 100 people when they're all lined up next to you than to let them get strung out and then pass them."

Bobcat girls drop time

On the girls' side, Marshalltown finished last out of 17 scoring teams but got time drops from four of its six varsity runners from the Bobcat Early Bird meet on the same course two weeks earlier.

Bobcat freshman Lillian Heil finished in 78th place with a time of 21:41.8 -- 31 seconds faster than the Early Bird -- and sophomore Grace Whitmore was 84th in 21:52.2 -- 42 seconds faster.

Marshalltown's next four runners were the final finishers of the race, but Betsy Wirin (113th, 24:22.7) was 53 seconds ahead of her last meet on the same course. Lily Johnson (114th, 24:58.3) edged her time by one second as well.

Mallory Meyeraan (115th, 25:20.5) and Mattea Wright (116th, 27:21.5) have both been dealing with injuries during the early part of the season.

"When we look at the Early Bird, it was our very first meet and we felt pretty good about it," said MHS head coach Kim Hurley. "This meet is a lot harder going up against all of the Des Moines elite. But our girls are young, so they didn't even really understand the scope of what they're up against until we're here."

Third-ranked Johnston won the team title with 76 points, followed by No. 2 Waukee Northwest (96), No. 5 Cedar Falls (107) and No. 1 Ankeny Centennial (115). There were 12 ranked 4A teams in attendance and 20 ranked runners. Cedar Falls junior Charlee Gall won the meet in 17:51.3, and Emily Stubbendeck of Waukee Northwest was second in 17:59.0.

"Most of these teams are not in our district," Hurley said. "We don't know exactly, but we'll sit and crunch some numbers and get another picture of who we'll see."

The next event for the Bobcats is the Tom Karpan Invite hosted by West Des Moines Valley on Tuesday, Sept. 15, at Valley Southwoods Freshman High School. The Heartland Classic at Central College in Pella is Saturday, Sept. 19.

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