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Oct. 7, 2019
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From left to right, sophomore Laura Masoni, senior Lilia Bodnar, sophomore Danielle Moriarty and junior Kayla Rizzotte lead a pac o runners on ept at rowns urg he tea finished si th out o eight Photo by Ellie Albin.
Chasing records irls cross countr tea e pecting highest finish in school histor Andrew Haughey
A
haughand000@hsestudents.org
fter placing seventh in the state last year, the varsity girls cross country team is looking for their highest finish in the I tate inals in school history. In the past, the team has finished around si th to eighth in the concluding meet of the season, with a school best of si th in the 2017 season. This season has the potential to be different. ith the school ranked fourth in the state, the team has its eyes set on a record finish. ongtime coach and panish teacher eth ahns said the team has challenged themselves to run at a higher intensity, putting themselves at the front of races instead of the middle. ahns also said this team s si e has had a noticeable impact on how they trained. his is the smallest team we have had in about five years which, for us, has been very beneficial,” ahns said. e re able to individuali e our training and get to know the kids a little bit better.” ophomore egan ybeck said she felt as if this team was much closer than the team last year, and she knew many more on the team this year. he said this was an important factor in how they performed because they had developed a stronger identity as a team. ybeck also said e perience on the team was a major factor on her performance. I also feel like I m getting more of a hang on how to prepare a little bit better since last year,” ybeck said. ophomore era chafer said the team had much more positivity this season. ccording to hafer, the lack of freshman contributed to the team’s success because the team was more
e perienced, but may have a negative impact in the future. hen we get to championship season in future years, we will not have as many people to step up to the plate,” chafer said. enior ogan orrell has been running on the team since her freshman year and has noticed some key differences that contribute to why this year s e pectations have shifted. orrell stated that while the roster this season has about 30 less girls than last, the runners capable of performing at the varsity level is much higher than usual. ur varsity roster is very deep with different girls,” orrell said. e re able to put different girls in for each race, giving some girls a break and some girls an opportunity to run.” ahns made additional remarks on how the addition of senior annah ale from vansville had boosted the confidence of the team, pushing more individuals to run at the front. ahns said that historically, the team has always been deep, but that they lacked a front runner. he stated that this year s team is determined to take down their competitors ionsville, ort ayne arroll and armel. In years past we always said we wanted to get on the podium, but I don t really think the girls reali ed that was a possibility,” ahns said. ut this year, they truly see that as something they are going to achieve.” he first girls cross country postseason meet will be on ct. for sectionals at endleton eights igh chool.
