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Monday, November 6, 2006
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BHS boys finish fourth STATE CROSS COUNTRY CLASS 2A Sports Editor NORTHFIELD - A record-setting season for the Brainerd Warrior boys' cross country team reached its peak in the Class 2A state meet at St. Olaf College.
After winning its first section title in 26 years, Brainerd made its second consecutive trip to state Saturday, a program first, and its third appearance in four years, another first.
On Saturday, the Warriors raced to a school-record fourth-place finish, bettering the previous high of 10th in 2003.
Individually, Brainerd's Justin Tyner earned all-state honors with a 15th-place finish and a career-best time of 15:56.9 for 5,000 meters.
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Brainerd's Justin Tyner headed for the finish line Saturday in the Class 2A boys' state cross country meet at St. Olaf College. Tyner finished 15th and was all-state. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls
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Following Tyner were Thomas Ruttger in 40th place, Tyler Rose 51st, Luke Delaney 72nd, Mitch Lorenz 95th, Gunner Johnson 133rd and Jimmy Dean 136th.
"Every one of them had a (personal best), some by leaps and bounds," Warriors coach Dave Herath said. "They ran their race, they stuck with the game plan.
"At the beginning part we were a ways back, yet we were running our pace. They felt stronger as the race progressed and ran past a lot of boys out there."
Brainerd's showing was a bit of poetic justice as it entered the meet ranked 12th in 2A.
There's a possibility with only Tyner graduating that Brainerd will obtain the recognition it deserves next season.
"We don't do sour grapes much but it's nice to come down here and show the metro schools that we compete with everybody," Herath said.
"Outside of Justin, they're kind of the mutts of the world but they sure work hard," Herath added. "They stuck together all season. I think that's the cool part about these boys. They're a tight-knit group. They've put their dues in, and it sure paid off.
"You look at the sheer numbers of kids here (160 runners) and for us to finish way up there, we were going in basically unranked. I think they gave us 12th as a token ranking. It was fun to prove the critics wrong."
Class 2A boys
Highlights: Brainerd finished fourth, the highest finish in program history, and Justin Tyner earned all-state honors with a 15th-place finish.
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Tyner, a two-time section champion, finished his career as the first Warrior boy to run in four state meets. He moved up seven places from last year to earn all-state honors again.
"The race was ideal for me," Tyner said. "I was going to go out under control, which is basically the pace we've been practicing for the last three weeks. I actually went out a little fast. I think I heard I was (5:00) at the mile, which is faster than my pacing, but the plan worked. Everybody went out too fast.
"I just picked them off one by one, and it ended up being the fastest time of my career (by more than 14 seconds).
"My goal this year was to break the top 20. On my pre-meet sheet, which we write on the bus on the way to the meet, I put a top 20 finish, breaking 16 minutes, I did both of those, and as a team I said top four."
Herath said Tyner was back in the pack to start, then began to charge in his final meet.
"Justin never backed down," Herath said. "He just came charging in the home stretch. It was a nice way from him to end it."
Ruttger thought the Warriors may have gone out too fast, possibly hearing 5-minute times after the first mile.
"Normally, we like to be around 5:20 so we took it out a little fast," Ruttger said. "The second mile I think we were kind of dragging a little bit because of that fast pace, but we kind of got into our pace and held that the whole race.
"There were a couple big hills but it helps training at the (Northland) arboretum because we get a lot of hill workouts, compared to other teams running on the flats. We passed a lot of guys on the up hills."
Class 2A boys' team scores: 1-Willmar 41, 2-Rosemount 114, 3-Eden Prairie 119, 4-Brainerd 145, 5-Winona 162, 6-Lakeville South 165, 7-Mounds View 195, 8-Alexandria 219, 9-Stillwater 223, 10-Armstrong 246, 11-Osseo 249, 12-Henry Sibley 260, 13-North Branch 312, 14-Buffalo 325, 15-Duluth East 346, 16-Eagan 434
Individual champion: Hassan Mead (Mpls. South) 15:10.7
Brainerd: 15-Justin Tyner 15:56.9, 40-Thomas Ruttger 16:28.9, 51-Tyler Rose 16:35.3, 72-Luke Delaney 16:51.7, 95-Mitch Lorenz 17:08.8, 133-Gunner Johnson 17:53.2, 136-Jimmy Dean 17:54.1
MIKE BIALKA can be reached at mike.bialka@brainerddispatch.com or at 855-5861.
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