Henry’s just a great kid, a great leader, sets the tone for our team.”

Park co-head coach Jesse Nelson

It’s been quite a cross country season for Park High senior runner Henry Joa. And one gets the feeling he definitely isn’t finished.

In five competitions so far this fall, Joa has finished first in three races. He won the Grey Cloud Invite in 16:36.7, surprisingly his first cross country individual win ever.

He followed that with a first-place finish in the Dewey Minnaert cross country invite in a time of 16:00 flat. He sat out the next meet at Red Wing with severe foot blisters, then came back to win the Simley Invite Oct. 10 in 16:14.7, finishing 16 seconds ahead of the second-place runner. Some 111 runners took part in that event.

Joa was third in the CDH Invite at Lake Elmo Park Reserve race in 17:30 and seventh in the Osceola Invite in a time of 17:08.0. So, five races in, and Joa has three wins and five-for-five top seven finishes.

“I feel like the thing that changed most is believing in myself and having knowledge of people like Narve and Nelson and the coaches around me that believe in me,” Joa said when asked if he was a better runner this season.

Joa tweaked his training over the summer, and it's been paying off this fall.

“This year I ran a little less than I would normally, but I run a lot more workouts so a lot faster stuff but lower total volume,” Joa said. “I believe it has (made a difference). I trusted our coaches more and did a lot more workouts that they wanted me to do. And it worked out. I believe it will.”

Joa ranks third on Park’s all-time boys’ 5,000-meter performance list with a time of 15:43 set as a sophomore. Ahead of him are school record holder Dieudonne Kwizera, who ran a 15:28 in 1986, and Jason Boon, who ran a 15:41 in 1991.

“I just think he’s running with more confidence,” said Park co-head coach Brad Narveson. “He had a really good track season last year and focused on his summer training. I think he did a little bit different this summer than he did last summer and focused more on training for a 5K and really embraced what we were talking about in practice. … faster runs but not quite a far. He did a lot more of those. More strength training. Just focused not so much on the long, slow distance runs.

“He’s always had the mental toughness when he’s feeling good,” Narveson continued. “Now he’s starting to get that mental toughness when he’s having an off day as well and that’s really important or a runner. He just continues to mature as a runner.”

Joa holds the Park school track record in the 1,600-meter run, with a time of 4:19.42 set in 2026, and his 800-meter dash time of 1:58.24 ranks sixth on the all-time best chart.

“Henry’s just a great kid, a great leader, sets the tone for our team,” said Park co-head coach Jesse Nelson. “And we’re just really excited to watch what he can do over the last few weeks. He’s definitely earned all the success he’s had. He’s earned it.”

After competing in the SEC Championships Tuesday at Forest Lake, Joa and the Wolfpack will compete in the Section 3AAA cross country championships Thursday, Oct. 29, at Valleywood Golf Course in Apple Valley with a 3:30 p.m. start time.

“I think the goal for conference is for sure to win,” Joa said. “If the weather is right, I believe I could go under the school record, that 15:27 mark. For sections, there’s some really good talent in there right now. I think there’s two guys who will be around 1 flat or even under 15. So, I think the goal is to stick with them as long as possible and maybe even get under 15:20 in that race. And then for state I want to get top five. I don’t know the course so I’m not really sure about times.”

Joa finished 13th in the section meet last season in a time of 16:03.50. His state meet time of 17:32.4 and 143rd place finish was way off his best as he competed with a bad case of pneumonia.

“State meet we’re looking or him to be competitive and compete and hopefully get a really solid finish and who knows,” said Narveson.

Joa said he will continue to run in college after this season and is weighing his options.