Red Oak cross country wraps up season with state meet

A strong season for the Red Oak boys’ cross country team came to an end at the Iowa State Cross Country Meet on Saturday.

Red Oak’s season ended at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge when sophomore Josh Sunberg finished 68th at the 2A boys meet with a time of 17:37.

“He could have done a lot better. Being his first time at state, he was a little distracted. There was just a lot going on,” said Red Oak Cross Country Coach Curt Adams.

Adams told Sunberg that he has the potential to improve on his time with an off-season of hard work and training.

“We got to have a team surrounding you, so that you’ll be a lot more focused,” Adams told Sundberg.

Adams said Sunberg needs to be in the 16 minute area for a top finishing time next year. He also added that it’s a lot for a sophomore to take in at state.

“He ran within himself and didn’t get overwhelmed,” Adams said.

Sunberg reached the state meet after finishing ninth at the Panorama qualifying district meet, which was held Oct. 22 in Panora. The Tigers’ finished fourth, just outside of the top three by 25 points. South Central Calhoun took the third spot in the team race. The top three team scores advance to state.

“The team that beat us, they were better than us,” Adams said. “Their first man beat our first man, their second man beat our second man…they deserved to go. They beat us.”

Gavin French finished 23rd with a time of 19:18, while Pete Walker was 28th with a time of 19:25.

Logan LeRette and Travis Schon were both in the top 40 as LeRette placed 31st with a time of 19:27, while Schon was 40th with a time of 19:51.

Jake Smith and Jared Sherman were 54th and 57th respectively in the meet. Smith ran a time of 20:46, while Sherman recorded a 20:59.

Adams thought a state qualifying bid for the team, along with Sunberg, would have put a nice capper on the 2012 season.

“It just gives you so much more focus. You want to do well as a team and that’s what I’ve been preaching this year,” Adams said.

Adams preached to the team that they can’t let anybody have a night off  and every team member has to be running on all cylinders.

“We had to have everybody up there,” he said. “We had all five guys in the top part of the race in scoring position.”

Red Oak’s strong season, which had several top five finishes, was highlighted by second place finish at Corning and a fourth place showing at Clarinda.

Adams said the team needs to get stronger and get more endurance if hopes to improve on its 2012 success.

“That’s what you do over the winter, during the spring and over the summer,” he said. “You don’t build endurance in a couple of weeks, that’s a long-term project.”

Adams said several runners will focus on running during the offseason.

“How you get better is not during the season, it’s during the offseason, what you do during that time to get better,” Adams said. “In cross country, you’ve got to have that endurance base.”