The Atlantic boys’ cross country team is off to a fast start this season, and the Trojans are really starting to turn some heads.

After the Atlantic volleyball team began their season undefeated, the Trojan football team put on a thriller to beat Clarinda 16-14 in their season opening game at the Trojan Bowl. Much talk began buzzing around Atlantic about the football team earning their first home win in just shy of two years and the coaching staff changes and what it may mean for the team beginning the season 1-0.

The Trojan volleyball team also picked up attention and the town seemed to be enlightened with the early success of Atlantic’s fall sports teams. One day following the football win the boys cross country team was set to open their season in Glenwood and they knew it was their turn to make some noise around Atlantic; and that they did.

Glenwood

The Glenwood meet consisted of nine teams from southwest Iowa including several Council Bluffs schools, Harlan, Shenandoah-Essex and East Mills to name a few. Atlantic runners senior Phoenix Shadden and freshman Bradley Dennis proved to be the team’s premier runners by bringing home third and fourth places with times of 17:52 and 17:54 respectively.

Junior Cale Pellet also came in top ten placing ninth (18:30) and sophomore Jalen Petersen ran an 18:40 finishing in twelfth. Atlantic scored a total of 66 points earning them first place in Glenwood to begin their season.

After the Glenwood meet, everyone from coaches and athletes, to parents, teachers and fans, to the residents of the community were pleased to hear about the success of the athletic program at Atlantic High School.

As the following week passed in Atlantic, the Trojan girls’ volleyball team had dropped four of their next five games. The same week the football team traveled to Shenandoah seeking another win to extend their win streak to two only to return home heartbroken losing 7-3 to the Mustangs; however, the cross country boys were not yet ready to meet the same fate.

Clarinda

It was Homecoming week at AHS, and the cross country team was not about to let it get to their heads. Coming off a three-day break for Labor Day weekend, the boys’ cross country team headed to Clarinda for one of the hottest meets of the year. The heat index was pushing 100 degrees and it was a new course the runners were about to experience.

Varsity runners Phoenix Shadden and Bradley Dennis again proved to be two of Atlantic’s best. Shadden dropped three seconds off his time from the prior meet in Glenwood and ran a 17:49 to earn third place for the second meet in a row. Dennis again was not trailing far behind Shadden, winning sixth place with a time of 18:18 while Cale Pellet was again the Trojans’ third runner across the line running 19:07 coming in 15th place.

The Atlantic boys earned 74 points overall, winning second place with the help of Jalen Petersen and freshman Evan Brummer both placing in the top 35.

With Shadden and Dennis both leading a very strong Atlantic cross country team, many people still didn’t pay much attention to the Trojan runners and their early success. This only made the team hungrier to make another statement and move up in the rankings across the state.

Shadden said that over the course of the summer much of the team did a lot of running, both individually and together. As the season was set to begin, the team started lifting in the weight room every other day to become stronger. Shadden said, “Most of the team ran more over the summer than in previous years, and that has helped us a lot.”

Shadden also said that originally the team had only planned to send two varsity runners to State, but with the early success to their season, they adjusted their goals to travel to state as a team.

Red Oak

Last Monday the Trojan boys’ cross country team had a winning mindset when preparing to run in Red Oak. Shadden knew he had real potential to win the meet; meanwhile, all other runners knew they had a legitimate opportunity to sweep the meet together.

Shadden said several other runners from Southwest Iowa that have given him a strong sense of competition and have been threats in the field behind him were not going to be participating in this meet. This gave Shadden a real nod to look to bring home a gold medal.

Atlantic came to compete, and that they did. Shadden swept the field earning a first place gold medal running 17:48 and beating second place by 26-seconds. Bradley Dennis was that second place runner. Dennis ran a 18:14 time earning a silver medal and beating out third place by thirteen seconds.

Jalen Petersen came to step up big for the Trojans coming in sixth place running a time of 19:20. This was a big advancement for Petersen. He said that beating Pellett was a big goal for him. The Trojans’ success didn’t stop there; a fourth runner from Atlantic, Cale Pellet, finished top 10 for the second time in three meets. Atlantic swept the meet in overall scoring too, totaling 36 points and finishing all seven varsity runners in the top 30 category.

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With the departure of seniors Ryan Hawkins and David Thomsen last season, some younger runners have had the chance to play bigger roles in the team this season. Freshman Bradley Dennis has perhaps stepped into the biggest role this season. Dennis has become one of the premier runners for Atlantic, clocking just seconds behind Shadden and already earning three top-10 medals in his first three meets, two of which were top five.

Sophomore Jalen Petersen and junior Cale Pellet are also two varsity runners who have stepped up to play bigger roles. Petersen already has a top-10 finish under his belt while also finishing twelfth in another meet. Pellet has two meets with top-10 finishes and has shown to be a strong varsity competitor.

Another runner worth mentioning is freshman Evan Brummer who has stepped up bigger than expected on more than one occasion. Brummer finished in the top-35 in Clarinda and top-30 in Red Oak. With those two finishes, the team is excited to see the amount of potential Brummer has and where it can lead his cross country career.

Shadden said that Dennis has a high ceiling, but he needs to continue to put in the work to become an even stronger, even faster runner. Shadden said Dennis cannot just expect greatness and success to come to him, especially with years to follow. Shadden said, “I really think Bradley can fill my shoes next year. He has proved to be one of the team’s best runners, but he needs to stay ahead of the pack and not fall back.”

Ahead of the pack is where we will be looking to see the Trojans this year.