The Atlantic Cross Country Team has seen a lot of big changes this season, considering the amount of seniors that graduated. The top runners for the girls’ and boys’ teams are junior Katrina Williams and senior Luke Irlmeier.
Williams said the season has been “going well so far.” They have had three meets and she has “advanced in each one.” She hit her PR of 21:04 at their Glenwood meet. She said she “always hits [her] PR in Glenwood.” Williams is most excited about the state qualifying meet because she hopes to run at the state’s highest level of competition. The runners have been having team nights and Williams said it’s been fun to get to know everyone on the team. She said the number of runners out for the sport this fall is “a little bit smaller but still pretty good.”
Irlmeier is most looking forward to having fun and having more of a “leadership role now that [he’s] a senior.” He is excited to take on the role because in other years he’s been “more of a follower.” Irlmeier is most looking forward to the Carroll meet because it would be his first time running there. His PR is 18:11, but his goal for the season is to “get faster.”
Tye Houser, another senior runner, said he was most excited to get to know all of his teammates. Houser said there were a lot fewer people this year but it has still been fun to get to know everyone. He said the season has not been going the best for him but as a team the boys got 5th out of 11 and the girls got 1st during the Clarinda meet. His PR is a 20:26 and while he hasn’t gotten close to it he’s trying to improve and hopefully get closer.
Coach Dan Vargeson said the biggest difference between this year and previous years is that “we have a lot of new people in the program, we don’t have as many experienced runners or as many experienced leaders.” He expects many people to take more leadership roles on the team this year. He hopes that once people get used to the program that next year they will need to take more of a leadership role in the upcoming season. He also expects “growth going from this season to next.” He said the season is going “good” this year “despite having a lot of new faces,” he’s already seen improvement and growth and they have seen people start to step up and take on that leadership role. Vargeson said he hopes people know that cross country is something they could be interested in and hopefully they grow the team even more next year. He said, “We are always welcoming new members of the team.”