Senior year has taught me a lot of lessons so far. It is still very early, but I can already see that everyone seems to come together a little bit more than usual during their senior year. One thing I had not done until last Saturday was attend a cross-country meet. I know what the sport is and I am very familiar with the runners, but I had not watched a meet until that point. I would have to say the main reason would be for the times that they run. The cross-country team usually runs at their meets on Saturday mornings. With me having tennis most of the time on Saturdays, it made it very hard to watch them. Even if I didn’t have tennis, I usually would end up sleeping in. I like to watch as many different sports as I can here at Cass. I find it very fun to get involved and be a part of these different environments. The only sport that I have not watched so far is Golf. I plan on watching one of their matches when that time comes around.

The cross-country team is moving on to regionals this Saturday. They finished third overall at the Logansport meet. Enoch Hines and Felix Palafox finished first and second for the Kings and fourth and eleventh overall. The team ran very well on a challenging course. The team has a good mix of different grade levels. Their young runners are very solid and show a lot of potential. Kale Skiles and Kaden Hughes are the top two freshmen for the team. When interviewed, Kale believes he is a “new contender.” He believes he “came up on them.” He finished by saying, “I am proud of my performance.” He ran a course personal record at the Logansport meet and is a very positive person. Felix Palafox and Enoch Hines are the top two runners for the Kings. They are both seniors who have put in a lot of hard work throughout their time in the program. Enoch made the decision to devote his time fully to cross country. He played basketball his whole life, but fell in love with cross-country and never looked back. He trained in and out of the season and deserves to be in the position he is in today. “We’re hoping for a great team race. Stay in a pack and hopefully get in the top five and move on to semi-state.” Says Enoch Hines. Felix Palafox has improved tremendously throughout his time as a runner. He started training in the weight room and learning a lot about the physical side of cross-country. Felix is a very smart runner and knows how and what to do to improve his skills. “It’s not what we wanted, but next week is the week that really matters. We’re trying to go to a semi-state. It hasn’t happened much in school history, so we got to try to make it happen.” Says Felix. The cross-country team is not only very skilled, but they have a lot of heart. All of the guys are well respected around the school and represent the cross-country team very well. A lot of them are always at other school events and cheering on the football team when they have meets bright and early the next morning. They might not get a lot of recognition, but they sure deserve it. The environment at the meets is great. The parents and runners are all very kind, win or lose. The Kings have had a phenomenal year. We wish them the best of luck at Regionals.