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Cross Country invite to honor fallen Comets

Press photo by John Burbridge Charles City head varsity boys coach Ryan Rahmiller, right, direct some pre-run drills during Wednesday’s cross country practice.
Press photo by John Burbridge
Charles City head varsity boys coach Ryan Rahmiller, right, direct some pre-run drills during Wednesday’s cross country practice.
By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — For the second straight summer, tragedy has left its footprint on the community.

And the Charles City cross country program has had to endure much of the continued pain.

“It’s hard to explain what’s going on here,” Comet boys head varsity coach Ryan Rahmiller said. “It was strange to lose TJ and Trent last year … and then Logan this year.”

On July 17 of last year, Thomas John “TJ” Houdek was killed when his motorcycle collided with a semi-truck.

Rahmiller considered Houdek the epitome of what a cross country athlete and teammate should be. “TJ”, who was a student at Iowa State and the president of ISU’s Ducks Unlimited chapter, never ran varsity during his two-year tenure with the Comets.

“But he came to every practice and he always brought a smile to the team,” Rahmiller said.

Less than a month later (Aug. 9), Trent Allen Smith died in another accident involving a truck.

Smith was a multiple state-qualifier for the Comets, placing eighth as an individual in 2010 a year after helping Charles City place 11th as team.

Smith was an aspiring artist who was due to have his work featured at Art-a-Fest several weeks after his death.

“Trent helped us continue that competitive culture and set an example for the younger runners,” Rahmiller had said shortly after the death of yet another one of his former athletes. “After he finished every race, he would shake hands with his competitors and encourage the remaining runners on way to finishing the race.

“He was a great role model.”

After graduating, Smith went on to become a two-time U.S. Citizen All-American cross country runner at Northern Iowa Area Community College, where he holds the school record in the indoor 3,000-meter run.

All last season, the Comets ran with a black band on their uniforms in honor of Houdek and Smith.

This season, Logan Luft will be added to the memoriam.

During this past Fourth of July, Luft was killed in an ATV accident. He would have been a freshman at Charles City.

If Houdek and Smith, who both died at 23 years old, represent the legacy passed on from past Comets, Luft represented the high school program’s bright future.

As a seventh-grader, Luft set a Charles City Middle School cross country record and later helped the Comets win the Class 3A seventh-grade title at the State Middle School State Championships in Ankeny.

A broken foot hampered Luft’s eighth-grade cross country season.

“But he battled back and ran very well at the end of the season,” Rahmiller said. “He was one of the toughest kids I’ve ever coached.”

Not only would Luft likely to have been an outstanding high school distance runner for the Comets, but an excellent wrestler as well.

“Logan was a great athlete and an even better person,” Rahmiller said.

On Aug. 31, Charles City will host it’s annual middle school/high school invitational at Wildwood Municipal Park.

“We’re calling it the ‘Trent Smith Invitational’,” Rahmiller said. “And the middle school race will be called the ‘Logan Luft Memorial Race’ and the high school race will be called ‘TJ Houdek Memorial Run’.”

Rahmiller anticipates an emotional day for participants and spectators.

“I have long said that this is family,” Rahmiller said of the CC cross country program, “and we’ve suffered a lot, lately.”

Last season, Charles City hosted only one meet at Wildwood, which was its first one as the Comets formerly hosted meets on a course since usurped by the new middle school building.

“Last year, our runners didn’t know all the twists and turns,” said Charles City girls head varsity coach Amanda Rahmiller, wife of Ryan.

“It’s a nice course, and we’re grateful that they’re letting us use it.”

The week before the Trent Smith Invitational, Charles City will open the season with an Aug. 24 invitational at Wildwood, which will just have boys and girls varsity races.

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