Young Brickies hoping for smooth landing with Brooks

HOBART | We've all seen the movie where the pilot passes out and a most unlikely hero must fly the plane without ever having a lesson.

Meet senior Chad Brooks, whose season debut with the Hobart cross country team was far less dramatic but significant just the same.

Brooks had been a wide receiver on the football team until this season and never ran cross country. He didn't know course layouts or have a scouting report on the individual standouts he'd be facing.

The one thing Brooks didn't lack was confidence, particularly after running a 17:04 at this summer's DeMotte Rotary Ramble 5K -- good for third in his age group and 10th overall.

"I didn't want to go into the first (high school) meet not knowing what was going on. I wanted to know what a 5K felt like before I got into the real deal," Brooks said.

"It was easier than I expected because I ran (at DeMotte) with John Petroskey and we worked together to catch some guys."

A high school boys cross country race is 3.1 miles.

With Brooks (17:23) the lone senior, Hobart has a formidable squad of Brent Dunn (16:45), Alex Cordova (16:45), Petroskey (17:02), Zach Spain (17:16), Collin Allen (17:37) and Alek Seeley (17:41) as its top seven

While Dunn and Spain recovered from injuries, Brooks picked up his game and became coach Ty Artherhults' No. 1 runner in some meets.

"The hardest part is learning how your body works going that long," said Brooks, who runs the 400 and 800 in track. "But that's just go-out-and-get-it, so there's no thinking.

"In cross, you really have to think about each race."

Learning new courses is another challenge.

"Luckily, sectionals and regionals and semistate are where we ran already," Brooks said. "At least I'll know those, but going to new places is difficult."

Hobart assistant coach Mike Black, a former runner, considers Brooks a key acquisition this season.

"It brought some more confidence to these (young) guys," Black said. "Certainly, he's a really good track runner. I think our guys all thought: 'Hey, if we had Chad, that would put us in contention to do something exciting.'

"I was a half-miler. In college, my buddies asked me to run cross country and it ran me into the ground -- and I was a good runner. Chad's a good runner and I know this has taken a toll on him (physically) and it's a credit to him that he's stayed patient."

With postseason around the corner, Brooks and his Brickies are hoping for a smooth landing.