The cross country season is one of the longer ones out of the other sports. We start work in June building our base mileage. We continue consistent running, workouts, and routines all the way through the fall. It all comes to a head at Regionals in Allendale. The stakes feel higher while the pressure is on us to run our fastest time or hit a place we are aiming for! Regardless of outcome, however, this team has shown resilience and both coaches are proud of what we have done this season!  Congratulations to our two state qualifiers, Lily Lesarge who was 8th place in the region (20:24) and Lainey Roth who was 15th (20:32)! They both have worked as a “dynamic duo” all season. Lainey worked all summer, and set out the goal of getting to state! Lily used that soccer mentality she has and stayed in the top ten for the race! Nice work girls! Senior, Nathalie Strockis, did not run her fastest race, but she is one of our four-year runners that has brought commitment, a good attitude, and determination to this sport and team! She can be proud of not only her running accomplishments, which included a state qualification, but leaving a positive impact on her teammates and coaches!  Freshman, Katherine Klooster, had an awesome freshman season, and had an awesome PR (22:39) to cap it off! Future is bright with her!   Our multiple sport athletes Abby Druelle (22:50), Claire Smith (23:43) and Paige Clinger (22:57) fought hard in their races. It is not easy to go through the grind of a cross country season and when you add another sport to the mix, it can be easy to wanna relax at one of them. These girls all maintained varsity spots and although not the races they were hoping for, did so much all season to be proud of! Going from a meet to a game on the same day is done by the smallest number of people! They can be proud of that alone! But we are proud of the improvements and strides they made for this team!   Also the lone girl in the PROM race was Audrey Mckeiver! She waited all day to race, choosing to want to try and get a solid last race under her belt!  She ran a (23:28) only a little under 10 seconds away from a PR! Way to go Audrey!   Although we were fifth place and did not qualify as a team, the rest of the varsity showed a true fight in this race! Their emotions after show how much they care for their teammates and wanted it more than anything! It emphasizes this sport is not for the wary, you get one time to do it, there’s no timeouts, no halftime, and no room for error! We had a great season from this group with a lot of top finishes, big PRs and accomplishments to be proud of! Coaches couldn’t be more happy with the results we had!    We also wanna recognize our seniors Lainey, Maggie, and Nathalie who put in four years and did it with a positive attitude and love for running! They all trained during summers, put in hours of workouts, while creating high goals for themselves and their team. Their presence next season will surely be missed because of that, but we know they left that impact on their teammates to continue on! Our fourth senior, Ally, our pole vault champ, just joined this year and left an impact with not just her athletic abilities but her commitment to the team and the smile she brought everyday! We were so glad to have her and she has a bright future because of it all!    Next up is the State Meet November 5th to cheer on our girls!!