DES MOINES – It was a race for second, but the fourth-ranked (Class 2A) South Hamilton boys’ cross country team knew that long before its runners stepped to the line and awaited the gun here Monday afternoon.

With fifth-ranked (3A) Gilbert so far out in front of the rest of the field, the Hawks set their sights on silver during the Heart of Iowa Conference meet and, in the end, that’s exactly what they took home.

Led by freshman Quinton Grove and his 13th-place performance in the large field that included the varsity and junior varsity runners at Saydel High School, South Hamilton accrued 89 points to fend off third-place finisher Nevada (97) by eight points. North Polk (114) and Roland-Story (114) were well back in fourth and fifth.

“I wasn’t disappointed at all,” South Hamilton head coach Darrell Paulsen said. “This was our third meet in the last six or seven days … Gilbert has the depth to rest kids if they want (at other meets), but we can’t do that.”

There was a definite disparity in depth, not to mention talent, from Gilbert to the rest of the field. The Tigers hoarded five of the top-10 positions and had all seven of their runners inside the top 12.

Prairie City-Monroe’s Chris Eilens claimed the individual title in 16 minutes, 40 seconds, which was 11 seconds ahead of runner-up Malachi Hornbuckle (16:51) of Nevada. Jason Taylor (17:06) led Gilbert’s pack in third.

Grove, the 2015 1A junior high state champion, was able to pick off several runners, including teammate Logan Peters, over the final mile of the 5-kilometer race as he headed to the finish line on the Saydel track. Grove crossed in 17:30.

“Quinton had a solid race,” Paulsen said. “He was back in 15th or 16th the last time I saw him and then he gradually moved up.”

Paulsen admitted that Peters’ standard strategy of pushing the pace with the leaders early backfired somewhat. The sophomore held it together down the stretch to finish 16th in 17:37.

“If you asked Logan he’d say he went out too fast,” Paulsen said, noting none of his runners were overly thrilled with the difficult terrain. “We ran there last year and I just don’t think the kids like the course.”

Josiah Brown (17:52) just missed a spot in the top 20; the South Hamilton junior had to settle for 21st. Devon Fisher (18:11) came across in 24th and Gaige Pickering (18:24) rounded out the scoring five in 27th.

Drake Thompson (19:14, 47th) and Jared Fisher (19:15, 49th) also competed for the Hawks.

It was South Hamilton’s third runner-up performance in a meet this season. The group has also claimed six meet titles.

South Hamilton will now have the chance to get some much-needed training time in, according to Paulsen, before the team begin its quest for a return to the state meet. The Hawks will be favored to advance out of the State Qualifying Meet in Atlantic next Thursday. The meet is scheduled to get started at 3 p.m.

“We just need to get back to some training and we’ll be OK,” Paulsen said. “We have eight days before we run at (the state qualifier) and we’ll be ready to go. We’ll be better.”