by Sav Sorensen and Laeni Pelzer

The 2014 cross country season is underway. Last night, the cross country team had its annual time trials where the cross country athletes compete for the top seven varsity spots. The girls ran a 2.4 mile course around the school grounds that began at 6 p.m. and the boys followed at 6:25 p.m. running a 2.9 mile course.

Junior Tiffany Williams had a fantastic performance finishing in the number one spot and improving by 58 seconds. Coming in next, senior Savannah Sorensen filled in the number two spot and improving by 25 seconds followed by senior Karly Monson (third), sophomore Alexis Brockman (fourth), senior Ashleigh Waltz (fifth), senior Allie Siggins (sixth) and freshman Emily Saugling (seventh). “Overall the girls did very well, most of them improved between 30 seconds and a minute. The girls are stronger this year and I’m hoping that throughout the season one or two girls will step up and have a break-out performance,” said head coach Paul Iekel.

Waltz said, “I feel like I did good, I did improve by 15 seconds (however), I feel I could have pushed it a little harder on the last lap.”

Expectations Iekel has for the girls include qualifying for state, “We have senior girls and even younger girls that have the mindset (to qualify for state) and want to finish high in the conference,” said Iekel. According to Iekel, some key highlights included performances from Sorensen, Brockman and sophomore Paige Henderson. He said, “I thought Savannah ran well, it pleased me that she didn’t settle and competed with Karly. Alexis ran better than we see in practice so far this. Overall, I thought most of the girls had great performances.”

Some goals that the girls have include making it to state and closing gaps within the last few varsity spots to place higher in meets. Waltz said, “Trying hard in practice everyday and coming to meets with the mindset that you’re going to do your personal best and developing better packs throughout the team are key elements to having a successful season.”

On the boys side, junior Ryan Hawkins claimed the number one spot. Sophomore Phoenix Shadden had a challenging finish with Hawkins as he came in second behind Hawkins. Followed by, sophomore Carter Cox (third), senior Marshal McDermott (fourth), junior David Thomsen (fifth), senior Zach Brooks (sixth), freshman Cale Pellet (seventh), senior Reid Nichols (eighth) and junior William Weppler in the number nine spot. Due to ineligibility, the boys varsity lineup will change throughout the next few weeks. Iekel said, “I thought the boys would be better than last year and they were. Now its to competition and how well they will compete against other teams.”

Junior David Thomsen said, “I feel like I did worse than expected because I don’t feel like I’m in as good as shape as I thought I was.”

Freshman Scott Leonard said, “I think I did pretty good. High school cross country is different from middle school cross country because you like everyone and you go out to do stuff and actually hang out as a team.”

According to Thomsen, a goal he has in keeping consistent on varsity and earning his second letter. Iekel said, “I think we will take some teams by surprise, we are a much stronger and deeper team, and how much (stronger and deeper) we will find out.” Thomsen said, “We need to keep working hard and be determined, team chemistry is important.”

Key performances, according to Iekel, include Shadden, McDermott, Weppler and freshman Jene Zarbano-Crews.

The cross country season kicks off with a meet on Sat, Aug. 30 at Glenwood beginning at 9 a.m. starting with the middle schoolers.