Sunday, Nov. 13 will be remembered by the cross country team, but maybe not like it would have hoped. As the Nike Midwest Regionals competition in Terre Haute, Indiana concluded on an over-cast, windy day, the state champion boys’ team was disappointed because it missed the qualification necessary for Nike Nationals.
To have a chance of qualifying, the team needed to place in the top four at the meet. First and second places automatically qualified, and third and fourth places could qualify as wildcard based on their season performance. The boys’ team, however, placed fifth out of 38 teams, just 24 points away from fourth. The guys improved by 10 places but because the team could not meet its expectations, it was disappointed.
“Every runner and team has their ups and downs and this weekend I think was one of our down weeks,” sophomore Evan Schlute said. “Throughout the whole season we met all expectations and we only lost [a spot at nationals] to Palantine…I just think this weekend was one of our not so great races.”
The girls placed eleventh, four places better than last year’s performance.
However, even though regionals wasn’t what the boys’ team had expected, it does have a record-breaking state championship title in its list of accomplishments. With this in mind, many team members will begin pre-season for the spring track season.
“We didn’t run as well [Sunday] as we had [before] as a team so we were a little disappointed with the result,” Schulte said. “But the rest of our season was good and we win as a team and loose as a team.”
For individual results, see www.momilesplit.com.
By Kaitlyn Marsh