Prairie Boys Cross Country

VanDraska leads Prairie to title

Tysen VanDraska was sorely disappointed when he finished seventh at the Class 4A state cross country meet last fall.

"I kind of choked a little bit," he claimed Thursday.

He does not plan to let it happen again.

VanDraska captured top honors and led Cedar Rapids Prairie to the team championship Thursday at the annual Cedar Rapids Invitational at Noelridge Park.

VanDraska won the 5K outing in 16 minutes, 7.68 seconds, edging Brandon Cooley of Bettendorf by 1.5 seconds in a tight race throughout. Prairie ran away with the team championship with 31 points with Jake Moore finishing fourth, Chris Oehlert sixth and Cam Steffens seventh.

VanDraska may have been a little harsh on himself by claiming he "choked a little bit" at the state meet, but he's always set high standards for himself as a distance runner.

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VanDraska leads Prairie at PV meet

BETTENDORF - Tysen VanDraska finished fourth in the individual standings Saturday to lead the Cedar Rapids Prairie cross country team at the Pleasant Valley Invitational in Bettendorf.

The Hawks placed third in the team standings behind Edina and Pleasant Valley in the 15-team field. Patrick Bose of Johnston set a meet record in 15 minutes, 58 seconds for the 5K course. VanDraska was clocked in 16:16.

The Prairie girls finished 11th out of 15 teams in their race. Hannah Frazee led the Hawks in 21st place.

Naperville North won the girls title behind a record performance by Judy Pendergast.

SPARTAN INVITATIONAL

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Prairie boys top X-C rankings

The Cedar Rapids Prairie boys cross country team will begin the season as the No. 1 club in Class 4A, according to the preseason poll by the Iowa Association of Track Coaches.

The Hawks finished second at the state meet last fall and return five of their top six runners. Jake Moore placed fourth, Tysen VanDraska seventh and Matt Lorenz 15th at the 2014 state meet for Prairie.

The Linn-Mar Lions, who won the Class 4A state title last year, are ranked No. 4 in Class 4A. The Marion Indians are ranked No. 7 in Class 3A.

The Linn-Mar girls cross country team is ranked No. 5 in the Class 4A poll.

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Linn-Mar claims 4A state title

FORT DODGE - Daniel Murphy has lived with a nightmare the past year after collapsing at the state cross country meet in 2013 and needing medical attention.

Now he's living a dream.

Murphy and the Linn-Mar Lions raced to the first state title in school history Saturday when they captured top honors at the Class 4A meet in Fort Dodge.

The Lions nudged Cedar Rapids Prairie, 85-98, in the team standings. Prairie won the state title last year, making it back-to-back crowns for Metro schools.

Murphy finished dead-last in 2013 after he collapsed several times and staggered to the finish line, due to dehydration and a possible virus. Linn-Mar might have challenged Prairie for the state title last year if Murphy had been in top form.

"I felt like I let the team down," he said Saturday.

That's all in the past now. Linn-Mar came home with the top prize this time thanks to Daniel Murphy, Michael Mather, Ryan Murphy, Bryan Fogerty, Jay Halverson and the entire program of coaches, runners, trainers and managers.

"It's amazing," said Murphy, who finished sixth. "That's all you can say. Amazing."

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