Of the five top cross-country senior boys voting, the Class 1 race
was the closest out of all of them.
Hermitage's Justin Horn won with by a slim margin, 49% to 45% with Galena's Colton Ellingsworth coming in second.
Horn has helped the team win the past two state championships in Class 1. Horn took 10th at this year's state cross country finals and seventh at the 2021 MSHSAA XC Class 1 meet.
After taking 22nd in the first race of the year, Horn posted top-10 finishes in 10 consecutive races. He won the Fair Grove Invitational and the Polk County League Conference meet this season. He ran a career-best 16:20.36 at the Buffalo Invitational.
He's also an all-state runner in track, taking fifth in the 3,200-meter at the MSHSAA Class 1 meet.
Horn has signed to run at State Fair Community College next season.
Other nominees were Kip Atteberry from Thomas Jefferson, Ronan Hardwicke from Christian and Bradley Shaw of Stoutland.