Tyler Bratkowski gives Mediapolis boys cross country team a helping hand

MEDIAPOLIS — Tyler Bratkowski loves basketball.

Bratkowski grew up in Munich, Germany, where he fell in love with the sport at an early age. Even when many of his friends were playing soccer at a myriad of soccer fields, Bratkowski found himself drawn to the basketball court, like a magnet attracted to steel.

Bratkowski, a junior foreign exchange student at Mediapolis High School, was out doing training runs around town in preparation for the upcoming basketball season when he caught his classmates' attention.

It wasn't long before a group of Mediapolis cross country runners came knocking on the door of Bratkowski's host family, asking him to give cross country a whirl.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Bratkowski has not only helped the Mediapolis boys cross country team qualify with enough runners to have a team score, but he's also helped the Bulldogs jump into the Iowa Association of Track and Field and Cross Country rankings for the first time in program history.

The Bulldogs are ranked 17th in Class 2A in this week's rankings.

More:Here are the top 10 boys high school cross country times in Iowa this season

While basketball always will be Bratkowski's first love, he's enjoying the cross country season with a new-found group of friends and teammates.

"We have a great team. We have one of the best runners (Solomon Zaugg) in the state. It's an honor for me to run with them," Bratkowski said. "I love it. It's always so much fun. I don't like running. No one does, I think. But after running and before running at practice we have so much fun."

Bratkowski has been a pleasant addition to the Mediapolis team, helping complete the squad.

"He's kind of a late comer, actually," Mediapolis cross country coach Mitch Timmerman said. "He told me he's a basketball payer and I told him that's fine, basketball is in the winter. You can run in the fall. He runs on his own. That's how the boys found out. He said he would come run with us. He's kind of developed these last few weeks. He's going to make a nice runner for us."

When Zaugg, Owen Schmidgall and Jeff Campbell saw Bratkowski out running the streets of Mediapolis, they knew they had found the missing piece to their cross country puzzle.

"He's a fantastic distance runner," said Zaugg, who was ranked seventh in Class 2A in the Oct. 5 individual rankings. "Tyler wasn't doing any sports so we just knocked on his door one day and asked him if he would be willing to run."

With the addition of Logan Rosas, an outstanding 400 and 800-meter runner for the Mediapolis track team who's also playing football this fall, the Bulldogs have been competing for team titles in every meet.

Mediapolis hopes to give Danville-New London a run for the SEI Superconference championship Thursday at Heritage Oaks Golf Course in Wapello.

"We have a lot of depth," Schmidgall said. "Last year we had meets where we couldn't score varsity because we didn't have enough kids. Now we have enough kids that if we have a kid gone, we can still score varsity and win some meets."

Bratkowski has run a personal-best 19 minutes, 47.72 seconds this season and is generally the Bulldogs' fifth runner.

It's a far cry from running on his own to get in shape for basketball, but Bratkowski is loving his new sport.

"Before I joined the team I would always run five miles to get into shape for basketball. This is a whole different thing. This is different, but I really like it," Bratkowski said. "I've made a lot of friends. Many friends from the cross country team, but also football players. I started making friends very fast because my host brother has many friends. I also meet his friends and now we are all friends."

More:Here are the top 10 times in Iowa high school girls cross country this season

Bratkowski, whose favorite basketball player is LaMelo Ball, is one of the few youngsters in Germany who do not call soccer their first love, despite playing for nine years. Bratkowski said that was no easy feat in a country that's won four FIFA World Cups, the last in 2014.

"I like (LaMelo Ball's) style, how he plays. He's very chilled on the court and always putting points on the board. it's is very fun to watch him," Bratkowski said. "When you go to Germany there are soccer fields everywhere. Every little town. Every city. Everywhere. Here it is not so much soccer, but I like it here because everyone is not just a soccer player."

Bratkowski is also excelling in the classroom at Mediapolis. He makes no bones about his favorite subject and teacher.

"I love computer science with Mr. (Ben) Carter. I love the teacher. He only gives me A's because I am German," Bratkowski said with a wry smile.

While the high school boys basketball season is just over a month away -- the first official day of practice is Nov. 14 -- Bratkkowski and his cross country teammates have more goals ahead. They want to qualify as a team for the state cross country meet on Oct. 28 at Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge.

And it all started with a gentle knock on the door.

"That's a funny story," Bratkowski said. "They saw me always running alone and one day they came to my house. Four people -- two girls and two boys. They came to my house and asked me to join the team. I said yeah, I would like to try practice with them. It's been a lot of fun."

Matt Levins is a sports reporter for the USA Today Network in Burlington, Iowa, who has covered local sports for 32 years at The Hawk Eye. Reach him at mlevins@thehawkeye.com.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: Tyler Bratkowski enjoying his first experience with cross country