Ryan Murken

Your Prep Sports

TIFFIN – When Nick O’Connor joined the Clear Creek Amana cross country team in the fall before his freshman year of high school he did so with the mindset that he would help take the program to new heights.

Over the past four seasons he did that and then some but even the optimistic O’Connor couldn’t imagine exactly how high the Clippers would ascend during his prep career.

The first four-time state qualifier in program history O’Connor helped Clear Creek Amana go from state qualifier newcomer to back-to-back state runner-up in a span of four seasons.

For all of his accomplishments O’Connor has been named the 2019 Your Prep Sports boys cross country athlete of the year.

“I knew we had a lot of talent coming in and I knew we all worked hard so I thought in four years we could have success but I didn’t know that we would have gotten to this point,” O’Connor said. “It’s hard to believe that before my freshman year we had only qualified individuals. Getting 14th as a team my freshman year to missing a state title by one point is an incredible journey.”

Prior to the arrival of O’Connor for 2016 season Clear Creek Amana had never reached the state meet as a team.

In his four seasons O’Connor helped turn the Clippers into one of the premier programs in Class 3A.

Clear Creek Amana went from 14th in its state meet debut in 2016 to 10th in 2017 before posting back-to-back runner-up finishes the past two seasons.

O’Connor was the top finisher for the Clippers at the state meet twice and was the team’s second fastest finisher another time in his four state meet appearances.  

“We had a three-year plan and we had a four-year plan and Nick was a very critical part to the plan,” Clear Creek Amana coach Ben Robison said. “We preach all the time consistency. Consistency in training, consistency in racing, consistency in what you do outside of cross country and he bought into that bigger than anyone.”

The ascent of the Clear Creek Amana program has followed the climb of O’Connor who went from 62nd at the state meet as a freshman to 11th last season.

O’Connor earned the first state medal of his career in his final race at Lakeside Golf Course in Fort Dodge, improving his top state-meet time by 21 seconds in his final race.

“I came in my freshman year wanting to make it to state and three years in a row not getting any awards and then medaling as a team really motivated me to come back my senior year with the best finish of my career,” O’Connor said. “It was a great way to finish.”

Knee and Achilles injuries caused O’Connor to get a late start in his senior season but he finished strong with top 11 finishes in each of his three postseason races.

O’Connor was third at the WAMAC Conference meet as the Clippers claimed their first ever WAMAC team title.

He added a fifth-place finish at the Class 3A District meet helping the Clippers repeat as team champions.

“He will leave Clear Creek Amana as one of most successful and versatile distance athletes to every come through here,” Robison said. “It’s pretty cool to see him reap the rewards of four years of work. For four years Nick has practiced at a higher level than a lot of high school kids and the results pretty much speak for themselves.”

After finishing runner-up in 2018 and spending much of the 2019 season ranked atop the Class 3A rankings the Clippers had their sights set on the first state title in program history.

Clear Creek Amana came just shy of that goal, settling for a second straight runner-up finish after finishing one point behind team champion Dallas Center-Grimes in the Class 3A team race.

“It always means a little more when you can send your core kids and the kids that have been through the thick and thin when you can send them out on a high note,” Robison said. “We would have liked to have gotten a team championship but from an individual standpoint he was able to accomplish a lot.”

As much as he wanted to leave Clear Creek Amana as a state champion O’Connor wanted even more to leave the program in a better place than he found it four years ago.

There is no question O’Connor accomplished that goal.

“My freshman year the team was very motivated just to get to the state meet and we were satisfied with that and the past two years there has always been a trophy chase and I think they have multiple years of that to come,” O’Connor said. “The way that we changed the program from freshman year to now hopefully the team can continue that tradition of getting a trophy every year.”

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