Adam Gray is looking like Cedar Rapids Kennedy’s next distance ace

CEDAR RAPIDS — They don’t run relays in cross country, but it appears that the proverbial baton has been passed to the next Cedar Rapids Kennedy great.

Jacob Green. To Miles Wilson. To Adam Gray.

A sophomore, Gray ran second individually and paced the Cougars’ fast foursome to an impressive title run at the Cedar Rapids Invitational cross country meet Thursday afternoon at Seminole Valley Park.

“I think I went out a little fast,” Gray said. “On a course like this, it’s hard not to. It’s flat, and it’s dry.”

Kennedy placed four runners in the top eight — all running 16:07 or better — and earned the team title with 39 points. Pleasant Valley was second with 52.

A.J. Schermerhorn of Ankeny Centennial was the individual champion in 15:13, which ranks No. 4 all-time at Seminole. Gray was next in 15:40, a four-second personal record.

Then it was Jacob Bruns (fourth, 15:49), Reece Murray (sixth, 16:02) and Henry McMahan (eighth, 16:07) for the Cougars.

“I hope we can stay healthy and keep getting better,” Gray said. “We’ve got a lot of good runners on our varsity. (Bruns) PR’d today by 15 or 20 seconds.”

Gray started running cross country at Harding Middle School in eighth grade, where he “won all of my races.” He was the 34th Class 4A finisher at the state meet last year, the second 4A freshman.

Grady Olberding of Mount Vernon-Lisbon finished third in 15:44; Nick Lee of Cedar Rapids Prairie was fifth in 15:51.

Pleasant Valley wins girls’ team title

Pleasant Valley generally brings only a JV girls’ squad to the Cedar Rapids Invite, but the Spartans were fully loaded this year.

The Spartans had four runners in the top seven and claimed the team title with 34 points. Centennial was next with 61.

Centennial’s Anika Mohrhauser dueled with 4A top-ranked Gace Boleyn of Pleasant Valley for the majority of the race, then pulled away at the end.

Mohrhauser was clocked in 18:18; Boleyn in 18:21. Those efforts rank seventh and eighth all-time at Seminole.

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Alyssa Brandt of Kennedy was fourth in 19:09.

“I didn’t want to go out too fast,” said Brandt, a senior. “I stayed back and made my way up (in the pack).

“I ran 19:40 last week, so this was a huge PR for me. I kept telling myself, ‘I can do this.’”

Pleasant Valley prevailed with a 2-5-6-7 finish.

Girls results

TEAMS

1. Pleasant Valley 34, 2. Ankeny Centennial 61, 3. C.R. Prairie 142, 4. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 143, 5. Iowa City Liberty 147, 6. Iowa City West 190, 7. Marion 217, 8. Bettendorf 221, 9. Clinton 241, 10. C.R. Kennedy 275, 11. Davenport Central 277, 12. Center Point-Urbana 277, 13. Muscatine 338, 14. North Scott 344, 15. C.R. Xavier 364, 16. C.R. Jefferson 476.

INDIVIDUALS

1. Anika Mohrhauser (AnkC), 18:18; 2. Grace Boleyn (PV), 18:21; 3. Camryn Sattler (Clinton), 18:45; 4. Alyssa Brandt (CRK), 19:09; 5. Brynn Edgin (PV), 19:09; 6. Maddie Millage (PV), 19:15; 7. Vivian McCombs (PV), 19:20; 8. Bella Hodges (AnkC), 19:21; 9. Kiersten Swart (MVL), 19:21; 10. Emily See (Bett), 19:23.

Boys results

TEAMS

1. C.R. Kennedy 39, 2. Pleasant Valley 52, 3. C.R. Prairie 100, 4. Ankeny Centennial 129, 5. Mount Vernon-Lisbon 136, 6. Bettendorf 138, 7. Davenport Central 225, 8. Center Point-Urbana 241, 9. Waterloo West 243, 10. Marion 267, 11. North Scott 326, 12. Muscatine 360, 13. C.R. Washington 383, 14. C.R. Jefferson 394, 15. Davenport North 411, 16. C.R. Xavier 429, 17. Davenport West 478, 18. Clinton 501.

INDIVIDUALS

1. A.J. Schermerhorn (AnkC), 15:13; 2. Adam Gray (CRK), 15:40; 3. Grady Olberding (MVL), 15:44; 4. Jacob Bruns (CRK), 15:49; 5. Nick Lee (CRP), 15:51; 6. Reece Murray (CRK), 16:02; 7. Cameron Gotto (PV), 16:06; 8. Henry McMahan (CRK), 16:07; 9. Jack Perry (PV), 16:10; 10. A.J. Willey (Bett), 16:11.

Comments: jeff.linder@thegazette.com