It is that time of year when the first quarter of the school year is coming to an end. Along with the end of Q1, the fall sports are quickly coming to a close. Some of the sports coming to an end include boys’ and girls’ cross country, tennis, and volleyball.
The boys’ cross country team has pushed through this season strongly. Whether they were running a scorching hot race after school or a cool Saturday morning race, the boys pushed through to run the best they could. The team leaders this season have been seniors Kaiden Hughes and Colton Copeland, along with junior Ben Jay. These three have been running in the top three for the boys this whole season, but recently trailing close behind them has been sophomore, Sam Vanderberg.
When speaking to this season’s lead runner, senior Kaiden Hughes, to get his thoughts on the Three Rivers Conference meet, Hughes said, “I feel pretty good going into conference, it should be a good chance to run a good time and be competitive.” Hughes said there is going to be fast competition from Wabash and Northwestern at the meet, so he is aiming to get in the top five, but there is a chance he could get top three. Hughes said, reflecting back on the season, it has really prepared the team going into sectionals. He continued saying Sam has made major improvements over the season, and if he continues to progress, he will play a major role in the scoring at sectionals. Hughes predicts that at sectionals in two weeks, the team will place sixth; however, if the team is feeling good and everyone has a good race, they have a chance of getting fifth and moving on to regionals as a team. If the team does place sixth, Hughes stated, “Ben, Colton, Sam, and I all have a really good chance of moving on to regionals individually.”
Senior and second runner, Colton Copeland. Copeland has been struggling with back issues this season, but he said he is feeling confident going into his last conference meet. He is aiming to earn the All-TRC conference and place higher than he did last season. As sectionals near, Copeland stated, “I am hoping our whole team can make it through to regionals. I am also hoping to get top 15 in the race, which would be better than last year and all sectional.” Finally, Copeland said it feels like his high school running experience has gone by in a flash. He has enjoyed running, and he is not ready for it to come to an end yet. He is glad he ran this past season and that it has been a fun season.
Overall, the boys have put in an excessive amount of work this season to hopefully make it past sectionals as a team and place high at the TRC Conference Meet this week. The boys race at Manchester this weekend, along with the girls. The boys’ race starts at 10 am, and the girls run after. The sectional race will be on October 18 at Logansport High School. The start time is yet to be announced. Good luck this weekend and the rest of the season, boys!
