Kocak, Strom finish 1-2 at Lakefield 5-K road race

LAKEFIELD — Five Jackson County Central boys’ cross country runners finished in the first five places of the Jackson County Kids Against Hunger 5-K Road Race Saturday morning.

Matt Kocak won the 3.1 mile race in an excellent summer time of 17 minutes, 42 seconds, while Marc Strom (17:57) also ran the course — through the streets of Lakefield — in under 18 minutes.

Jon Troe (18:20), Sam Hendrickson (18:37) and Justin Cook (19:09) were the next three to complete the race. Cook utilized a blazing sprint kick to pass 47-year old Jay Grandprey of Windom at the finish.

Grandprey, who ran the Boston Marathon in April, clocked his third consecutive personal record — in an eight-day span — Saturday. The former Eagle wrestler ran a 42:01 10-K at Brookings June 20 and then ran a PR four-mile time of 25:21 at St. James June 26.

Worthington’s Tim Meyer finished a strong seventh, running a time of 19:23 — 37 seconds faster than he ran at Fulda a week previously.

Lakefield’s Sarah Bakalyar ran the course in 25:14 to finish first among all women competing in the race.

A total of 30 racers completed the course.

Tags: sports, jcc, cross, country, kids, against, hunger, 5k, lakefield