If it were up to him, he would have been running with his whole team. Coming out of arguably the strongest district in Class C, Ty Brockhaus was the lone Malcom harrier to qualify for the Oct. 22 NSAA Cross Country State Championships in Kearney.
The two-time state medalist finished without any additional hardware as the senior placed 62nd with a time of 18:53.
“I think running without the team can definitely impact performance,” Malcolm coach Brie Pulec said. “We did our best to keep things as normal as possible at practice. We had the team running with him all week and they warmed up with him at the meet.”
It was a rare occurrence for the Clippers – a program recently named a dominant dynasty by the Nebraska High School Sports Hall of Fame – to not field a full team at the state meet.
“I’ve never run without my brothers by my side and that rattled me,” Brockhaus said. “But I knew they’d be all over the course pushing me, and I wanted to leave it all out there for them.”
The summer training program was different for Brockhaus this year as he spent much of his summer in military basic training.
“During basic, I learned a lot about determination and testing my limits,” Brockhaus said. “I tried to pour that into how I came back and competed this season.”
While he was in great physical shape and had gained muscle mass, it was a different kind of training than just putting on miles. As a result, it took him a little longer to get his times back to where they were the previous two seasons.
“Having fewer base miles this year could have played a part in Ty’s race being a bit behind where he was in the past,” Pulec said. “But I also think there are days the race just doesn’t come together. It happens.”
As Brockhaus’s career comes to a close, the coach is glad she had the opportunity to coach him.
“He came to this program at a great time and had a chance to be part of some special teams,” Pulec said. “He became a great runner who was able to teach others how to compete. His hard work and dedication got him to state. I couldn’t be more proud of who he has become.”
Following graduation in May, Brockhaus plans to study criminal justice in college while also serving in the National Guard. He may also try to compete in cross country at the collegiate level.
