PCM boys edge reigning champion Nevada, win HOIAC championship

MONROE — PCM senior Coby DeRaad was pretty fired up after the Mustangs were announced as Heart of Iowa Activities Conference champions on Monday.

And knowing that the program hasn’t really come close to accomplishing that in a long time, no one can blame him.

PCM finished seventh and eighth in his first high school seasons before ascending to second last year.

But Nevada won the meet by 41 points a year ago and claimed the conference title by at least 25 points every fall since at least 2020.

That’s just another reason for the Mustangs to celebrate their first HOIAC championship since 2008 as PCM dethroned the Cubs by a single point at Gateway Recreation Golf Course.

“It’s pretty surreal,” DeRaad said. “To go from the only runner to go under 19 minutes my freshman year to finishing fourth on my own team at this meet my senior year is something I give them all the credit for. I’m just thankful to be part of it.”

While DeRaad wasn’t the first Mustang to cross the finish line, he was one of four PCM runners to earn top-12 all-conference recognition after the boys’ 5K race.

Led by newly-ranked Mustang Kash Fischer in sixth, Class 2A No. 11 PCM scored 58 points at the top of the standings. That was one point better than 3A No. 19 Nevada, which scored 59 in second.

The rest of the nine-team field included Saydel (97), Greene County (123), Perry (148), Grand View Christian (150), West Marshall (164), Roalnd-Story (166) and South Hamilton (202).

“We learned last week that every point matters,” PCM head cross country coach Eric Osterhaus said. “We lost to Red Oak by one point. We got out a little spicy today and paid for that in the second half of the race but still finished well.”

Nevada had a better individual top finisher than PCM and the Cubs’ first five were in before the Mustangs, but their No. 2, 3 and 4 runners were separated by only 16 seconds and five places in the top 12.

Fischer, a junior who just joined the 2A rankings at No. 26, posted a time of 17 minutes, 58.2 seconds in sixth. He was 40 seconds faster than the first time he ran on the team’s home course a few weeks ago.

“I don’t really care. It’s about our team and our team is doing great,” Fischer said about being ranked. “It gives me a little more confidence, but it doesn’t matter to me. If the season were to end today, I’d be happy with it. But we have more to do. We have to move on to the next race.”

The Mustangs’ next race is the state qualifying meet in Pella on Thursday. They’ll try to qualify for the state meet as a team for the first time since advancing in four straight seasons from 2005 to 2008.

Before that, they’ll celebrate their first conference title in almost two decades.

“It feels good especially since we worked so hard in the summer to get to where we are today,” PCM junior Brenden Lahart said.

Lahart was the second Mustang to finish the boys’ race on Monday. He was on Fischer’s tail most of the way and ended up eighth in 18:05.85.

“I know (Fisher) is the runner on our team who pushes everyone else so me closing in on him today will help make him a better runner, too,” Lahart said. “Us working together just makes the team better.”

Sophomore Owen Osterhaus finished 11th in 18:14.99 and DeRaad was 12th in 18:21.57. All four Mustangs were announced as all-conference runners after the race.

Sophomore Rylan Edgington (19:05.35) was the final scoring runner in 21st. Henry Omondi (19:19.39) and sophomore Camden Lahart (19:21.75) led the non-scoring runners in 23rd and 24th, respectively.

Sophomore Cademon Burkett (19:30.03), junior Kolby Clark (20:17.04), senior Charlie Ford (20:35.2) and junior Parker DeHaai (20:35.41) also were non-scoring runners in 29th, 38th, 48th and 49th, respectively.

“This is the best I’ve felt all season, but I know I can still get better,” Owen Osterhaus said. “I need to prepare myself through that second mile. I need to dig and continue to put the hard work in.”

Owen Osterhaus said the fact that he gets to share the conference championship winning experience with his head coach father makes it even more special.

The Mustangs entered the 2A rankings in 17th a few weeks ago. They climbed to 11th in the most recent rankings that were used to determine assignments for the state qualifying meet.

That’s the only week Coach Osterhaus cares about the rankings at all.

“Rankings aren’t results. It’s cool to see the name there though,” Coach Osterhaus said. “So I’m happy that the boys were as good as they were last week because that will help us for where they put us.”

To close the gap and maybe get into the top 10 before the season ends, Fischer wants the gap between the top four runners to close, and the No. 5 runner needs to be closer to the top four, too.

“We can do it. We have the guys,” Fischer said. “We just need to find that breakthrough race where all of us are on on the same day.”

Coach Osterhaus already thinks his Mustangs are a top-10 team. Becoming more confident through miles two and three and continuing to hone their speed are two things his team will work on before the state qualifying meet next week.

“We don’t need to get out in 5:10 to run well,” Coach Osterhaus said. “We’re working on honing our competitiveness. We had some breakthrough performances with that last week.”

Class 2A No. 11 Corben Lucchesi of Roland-Story won the boys’ race in 17:09.6.

Saydel finished third in the team standings mostly because Gage Moreno (17:26.81) and Jacob McPherren (17:32.34) were second and third individually.

PCM won the conference championship after going 6-8-11-12-21. Nevada was the runner-up with a run of 5-7-10-18-19.

“It’s an honor to be able to lead these dudes around me,” said DeRaad, who is a two-time individual state qualifier. “The work that they’ve put in is a testament to them.

“For myself, it’s the mindset. I have to have the willingness to hurt. I saw myself as a 400/800 guy in track, but it’s not track season. And I have to overcome the barrier and know that I can do this and I can be there again. The guys are trying to help me get over that mental hurdle.”

Notes: The Mustangs finished second in the HOIAC meet last year but trailed Nevada by 41 points. They finished seventh in 2023, eighth in 2022, seventh in 2020 and did not have a team score in 2021. Nevada won the HOIAC title in each of those seasons and won the meet by an average of 38.5 points. … PCM’s last trip to the state meet as a team was in 2008 when the Mustangs placed second and finished 10 points back of a state title. They also were third in 2007, fourth in 2006 and ninth in 2005. Chris Musgrove finished third individually in 2006 and Ray Chubbock was fourth in both 2006 and 2007.

PCM goes to Central College for state qualifying meet

The Iowa High School Girls Athletic Union and Iowa High School Athletic Association released the assignments for next week’s state qualifying meets on Wednesday.

The Mustangs were forced to go more than two hours away last year but will stay much closer to home this time around.

They will compete at a meet hosted by Pella Christian at Central College, and the other teams in attendance will be the No. 6 Eagles, 2A No. 7 Red Oak, No. 19 Shenandoah, Cardinal, Centerville, Chariton, Davis County, Eddyville-Blakesburg-Fremont, Grand View Christian, Interstate 35, Underwood and West Central Valley.

The top three teams and top 15 individuals advance to the 2A state cross country meet on Oct. 31.