Malcolm looks for answers after UNK

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For the past 30 years, the Malcolm cross country team has made a mid-season trek to central Nebraska for a what they hope will be a tune-up for a big event a few weeks later. This year, the Sept. 28 trip was a reminder of how tough things have been for the Clippers this season and just how good the competition is this year in Class C.

In a 38-team race, the Malcolm boys finished 12th with 218 points. Columbus Scotus claimed the team title with 103 points while Milford was runner-up with 112.

Ty Brockhaus was the first Malcolm runner to cross the line with his 37th-place finish in 18:25. In the same event last year, Brockhaus placed 10th with a time that was just seven seconds faster.

“The competition was absolutely amazing,” Malcolm head coach Brie Pulec said. “It’s pretty obvious that a lot of runners were training hard in the summer.

“It leaves us asking our runners, ‘How are we going to respond to this? How are we going to step it up?’”

Johnny Boesen was the second Malcolm harrier in with his 43rd-place finish in 18:35. Joey Brockhaus and Matthew Burbach were 61st and 79th, respectively.

With two of the Clippers’ top runners sidelined with injuries, some young athletes had a chance to experience the course that hosts the state meet. Sophomores Zane Zoucha and Tate Ele were among the young runners to compete.

“This is some of the toughest competition we’ll see all year,” Pulec said. “It was good for those young guys to experience what this kind of atmosphere feels like.”

The 12th-place team finish and lack of a single medal leaves the Clippers doing some soul searching.

“If this meet determined who went to state out of our district, we would not be going,” Pulec said. ”Our team learned that we have a lot of work to do if we want to make it past districts.

“We need to dig deep and see what we can do over the next few weeks. Anything is possible if you break down the mental blocks and allow yourself to race.”

Grace Schleining was the only Malcolm girl to compete at Kearney. The senior placed 104th in a race that included more than 200 girls.

“We have several injured varsity runners,” Pulec said. “We could have bumped some girls up from JV, but we decided it was better to focus on staying healthy for the conference meet.

“Grace wanted the opportunity to get on the course and compete even knowing she would be the only one on the team racing. She doesn’t back down from a challenge.”

The Clippers were scheduled to compete in the East Central Nebraska Conference meet Oct. 6 in Tecumseh.