The Wildcat cross country team kicked off homecoming weekend with the Wildcat Classic home cross country meet on Sept. 26.
Though the heat shortened the races, the ‘Cats still pushed for a men’s first place finish and a women’s second place finish. Both teams had four top ten finishers including three men getting top five and Senior Brody Lucas getting runner up in the boys’ division.
“Finishing in second was a nice moment for me, but honestly, it’s more about what we did as a group — placing several guys in or near the top 10 and earning the program a win at our home meet,” Lucas said. “That shows the hard work, dedication, and trust we’ve all been putting into our training.”
Head coach Marlon Brink said that the shorter course made it harder to see how well the team did time wise but with the team’s high finishers he feels the team is gaining confidence going into the final meets of the season.
“Due to the fact that we ran a shorter course due to the heat, it was a little hard to gauge the overall performance of our runners,” Coach Brink said. “I do still feel like everyone is gaining confidence in their racing abilities.”
With the high heat index the race was shortened to keep runners safe. The women’s race was 3600 meters and the men’s was 4200 meters.
“I felt like we handled the weather decently considering we had the shorter distance,” Coach Brink said. “The heat didn’t take nearly as much of a toll on the runners as it would have if we had went the full distance.”
WSC is hosting the NSIC cross country meet at the end of Oct., so this was a great practice round for that coming up in just a few short weeks.
“I think this meet gives them confidence that they can race well on a tough course, which our course is,” Coach Brink said. “And that should help build some momentum for us going into the second half of the season.”
As the season is rounding out Lucas mentioned that their biggest goal is to stay focused and keep pushing themselves through the end of the season.
“Looking ahead, our biggest goal as a team is to keep building on what we’ve established this season and what we showcased at the Wildcat Classic,” Lucas said. “I hope our goals reflect the team’s core: get better, stay together, and trust in one another so that when we line up next time, we’re ready.”
The ‘Cats will travel to Sioux Center, Iowa on Oct. 11 to compete at Dordt.
Though the heat shortened the races, the ‘Cats still pushed for a men’s first place finish and a women’s second place finish. Both teams had four top ten finishers including three men getting top five and Senior Brody Lucas getting runner up in the boys’ division.
“Finishing in second was a nice moment for me, but honestly, it’s more about what we did as a group — placing several guys in or near the top 10 and earning the program a win at our home meet,” Lucas said. “That shows the hard work, dedication, and trust we’ve all been putting into our training.”
Head coach Marlon Brink said that the shorter course made it harder to see how well the team did time wise but with the team’s high finishers he feels the team is gaining confidence going into the final meets of the season.
“Due to the fact that we ran a shorter course due to the heat, it was a little hard to gauge the overall performance of our runners,” Coach Brink said. “I do still feel like everyone is gaining confidence in their racing abilities.”
With the high heat index the race was shortened to keep runners safe. The women’s race was 3600 meters and the men’s was 4200 meters.
“I felt like we handled the weather decently considering we had the shorter distance,” Coach Brink said. “The heat didn’t take nearly as much of a toll on the runners as it would have if we had went the full distance.”
WSC is hosting the NSIC cross country meet at the end of Oct., so this was a great practice round for that coming up in just a few short weeks.
“I think this meet gives them confidence that they can race well on a tough course, which our course is,” Coach Brink said. “And that should help build some momentum for us going into the second half of the season.”
As the season is rounding out Lucas mentioned that their biggest goal is to stay focused and keep pushing themselves through the end of the season.
“Looking ahead, our biggest goal as a team is to keep building on what we’ve established this season and what we showcased at the Wildcat Classic,” Lucas said. “I hope our goals reflect the team’s core: get better, stay together, and trust in one another so that when we line up next time, we’re ready.”
The ‘Cats will travel to Sioux Center, Iowa on Oct. 11 to compete at Dordt.
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