AMES, IA- At the 2016 Heartland Classic, Johnston's Patrick Bose ran to a 6-second victory over Edina's (MN) Patrick Roos. Bose's 14:54 on the 3-mile course put him nearly 20 seconds over the next Iowan finisher, Nicholas Yanek of Pleasant Valley, solidifying his hopes of a top-5 finish at state this year. Bose followed his race plan to "stay behind the pack, not go out too fast, and don't be scared."
From the early stages of the race, Bose followed closely behind Roos until making his move in the latter half, quickly gapping on Roos to take the victory. After this win, Bose is looking to improve on his 9th place finish at the 2015 Roy Griak Invitational, hoping this year to place in the "top three or top four."
Bose and the Dragons will compete at the Roy Griak Invitational (St. Paul, MN), along with Dowling Catholic on September 24th, while Pleasant Valley will take the course in Muscatine, IA on September 27th.
As for the teams, Bose's victory lead Johnston to a top-15 finish, while Dowling Catholic was the highest placing Iowan team in fourth, with 34 points separating them from 5th place Pleasant Valley. Dowling's top finisher, junior Matthew Carmody, lead the Maroons with an eighth place finish in 15:21, followed by Jack Fink in 23rd (15:44) and Matt Frazier close behind in 30th (15:52). Dowling's top five was rounded out by Kevin Conner (46th) and Thomas Bussey (58th) respectively.
Pleasant Valley clenched fifth with Yanek's fourth place finish in 15:11, followed by three finishers between 38th and 47th place. All seven Spartans finished in the top 100, out of 206 runners. The junior, Yanek, placed 13th at the Heartland Classic last year, and will look to improve on his 7th place State finish from 2015.
