The cross-country teams officially began their fall season with their first meet last Friday. Both teams finished last but there were some promising top 10 placements.
“I got eighth overall out of a field of about 30 or 35 or so. It’s a big jump up from last year,” said sophomore Wes Preston. “As a team, we had some guys up front but we didn’t pack well, and we ended up finishing last. But don’t worry, we’re going to come out flying next week.”
Team manager, Andrew Seamans, was able to get an outside perspective of the meets.
“I think the team did pretty well. I was talking to the coach, and he told me that it would give them a good benchmark to do better, and he knows where they are now,” said Seamans.
The team did face some obstacles with the weather and a late start.
“It was originally supposed to be about 90 degrees tonight which can have a detrimental effect on your time,” said Preston. “It started raining and getting in people’s heads. So, it rained and cooled the temperature to about 78-80 degrees and then but the humidity was extremely high which made the air pretty thick to run through and the ground is a little wet but it was just I think the challenge of having that and the challenge of having a race late in the day is always tough.”.
Despite the obstacles, sophomore Carolina Trumpower notes how the freshman performed in their first college meet.
“I really enjoyed seeing the freshmen work super hard,” she said. “This meet I feel like a lot of times freshmen are super nervous for the first meet of the season and I feel like I was super encouraged to see them work hard and push each other even in an uncertain race.”
After completing the first meet, the team is now able to look forward to the rest of their season.
”I feel like we’re all a little nervous and tired from our first week but I’m excited to see the girls become closer and the team chemistry to grow and all of us to push each other a lot more,” said Trumpower.
“We have some young talent. I’m really excited about that. We saw some guys step up and some guys did not do so hot, but we had a decent effort. I know we can do better,” said Preston.
Despite the loss of some seniors last year both teams are excited for the incoming freshman and the new dynamic they’ll bring.
“We lost a lot of good seniors and, even with grace one of our seniors coming back as our assistant coach, we definitely miss our senior girls, so I feel like I’m excited to grow our team again and introduce the freshmen into all of our little traditions and everything,” said Trumpower.
“I am looking forward to seeing the young guys grow. We have a new kind of sense of urgency and culture on the team that I think is just something new and something really exciting to see how these young guys are getting after it and progressing and growing as men and athletes,” said Preston.
Both teams are competing again tonight in their second meet of the season.
