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The inevitable meet title came to fruition on Saturday - and by a wide margin at that - as Brace placed first among 79 runners at the Council Bluffs Abraham Lincoln Invitational.
Just four days after a career-best second-place effort at the Glenwood Invite, Brace ran a five-kilometer time of 17 minutes, 19 seconds to finish a half-minute ahead of Lewis Central's Blake Hunter (17:52) on the campus of Iowa Western Community College.
Alex Voge added a 10th-place medal and time of 18:53 for the Cyclone boys, who placed fifth out of 11 teams. The HCHS girls, meanwhile, placed five runners in the top 17 to win their second straight team title by a margin of 15 points over Sioux City North.
"This was an enormous day for the cross country program," said HCHS head coach Doug Renkly. "We feel like we are on the right track with both teams with the progress we made today. The kids are responding very well to the training and we are having some good surprises in performance among both squads."
Although Brace's win wasn't too surprising - considering he placed in the top seven of every regular-season race a year ago - the margin of victory was impressive to say the least. Only four runners in the field finished within a minute of the winning time.
"He ran a tactfully brilliant race," Renkly said, "running in the lead pack for the first mile and not pushing the pace until he entered the woods. When he came out, he was all alone. I'm not sure what happened in the woods, but he sure broke everyone's spirit in there!
"We are all very happy for Nathan and his family. This is a big win at a big meet."
Renkly was also pleased with the performance of Voge, who improved seven places from his finish at last year's A.L. Invite. Matt Brace finished 27th for HCHS and Josh Pauley was 35th.
"(Voge) looked very smooth and comfortable throughout the race and finished very well," Renkly said. "You have to be pretty good to be in the top 10 in this field. We would love to see him put some more races together like this one. It was a thing of beauty."
The Cyclone girls proved once again that balance is the key to their success, finishing five runners between 17:06 and 17:57 over four kilometers. Jessie Byrnes led the Cyclone pack in ninth place, followed by Jenny Hosack (10th), Ellen Klitgaard (14th), Jess Feldman (15th) and Cari Freml (17th).
That produced a winning score of 65 which beat out both Sioux City North (80) and Sioux City East (94). Led by individual champ Shelby Houlihan, East placed two girls in the top five. North had four runners in the top 13, but didn't have the necessary fifth score to topple the Cyclones.
"This was a very sweet victory for the girls," Renkly said. "We did not realize Sioux City East was going to be there, so I didn't scout them to see how strong their team was. I know how good their first two runners are! As the runners finished, I resigned myself to getting second or third. I was sure glad I don't count very well."
Renkly lauded the Cyclone girls' overall character and ability to step up and perform at a higher level when necessary.
"I love how team-oriented these girls are," he added. "(They) are still finding their places during the race and are, for the most part, interchangeable. They all have a good understanding of where they need to be to win, and if one is struggling, someone else steps up. It's fun working with them."
Sioux City North won the boys' team title with a score of 75, followed by St. Albert (93), Denison-Schleswig (98), Lewis Central (112) and HCHS (116).
"One of the team goals was to get closer to T.J. and A.L." Renkly noted. "Finishing ahead of both schools proves to me that they are ready to really start improving as a team and move the program forward."
The Cyclones will continue a busy early-season schedule on Tuesday when they compete at the Clarinda Invite at 5:00 p.m.
C.B. A.L. Invite - Saturday, September 5
Girls Team Standings
1. Harlan Community 65, 2. Sioux City North 80, 3. Sioux City East 94, 4. Missouri Valley 127, 5. Denison-Schleswig 148, 6. Thomas Jefferson 151, 7. Abraham Lincoln 153, 8. Lewis Central 160, 9. Glenwood 196, 10. Sioux City West 253, 11. Red Oak 262.
Top 5 Girls Medalists
1. Shelby Houlihan, S.C. East, 16:43; 2. Josee Jansen, S.C. North, 16:48; 3. Courtney Ruff, T.J., 16:49; 4. Whitney Dooley, Mo. Valley, 16:51; 5. Ellen Dougherty, S.C. East, 16:53.
HCHS Individual Places (4-kilometer times)
9th: Jessie Byrnes, 17:06.
10th: Jenny Hosack, 17:31.
14th: Ellen Klitgaard, 17:50.
15th: Jess Feldman, 17:50.
17th: Cari Freml, 17:57.
29th: Shelbie Jacobsen, 18:23.
36th: Jandy Johnston, 18:51.
(76 total runners)
Boys Team Standings
1. Sioux City North 75, 2. St. Albert 93, 3. Denison-Schleswig 98, 4. Lewis Central 112, 5. Harlan Community 116, 6. Thomas Jefferson 134, 7. Abraham Lincoln 137, 8. Sioux City West 191, 9. Red Oak 194, 10. Sioux City East 234, 11. Missouri Valley 243.
Top 5 Boys Medalists
1. Nathan Brace, HCHS, 17:19; 2. Blake Hunter, LC, 17:52; 3. Taylor May, LC, 18:03; 4. Dacotah Hamilton, D-S, 18:14; 5. Matt Samuelson, S.C. North, 18:19.
HCHS Individual Places (5-kilometer times)
1st: Nathan Brace, 17:19.
10th: Alex Voge, 18:53.
27th: Matt Brace, 19:59.
35th: Josh Pauley, 20:11.
43rd: Josh Travis, 20:38.
69th: Brian Wingert, 21:28.
72nd: Andrew McLaughlin, 22:28.
(79 total runners)
HCHS JV Girls Results (1st Place: Score of 20)
1st: Dru Beach, 18:37; 2nd: Brianna Croghan, 18:43; 4th: Becca Pauley, 19:01; 5th: Rachel Pauley, 19:03; 8th: Jamie Byrnes, 19:35; 9th: Sarah Oliver, 19:37; 11th: Rachel Schwery, 19:56; 15th: Taylor Schaben, 20:16; 18th: Danielle Travis, 21:00; 25th: Elizabeth Fields, 21:28. (61 runners)
HCHS JV Boys Results
15th: Collin Schmidt, 21:44; 33rd: James Klein, 22:26; 58th: Joey Barrell, 23:32; 88th: Luke Ferguson, 25:39; 96th: Austin Euchner, 26:56; 102nd: Logan Rogers, 28:00. (107 runners)
