La Center’s boys and girls cross country teams have entered the season with plenty of momentum, with both squads focused on building chemistry and continuing to improve throughout the fall.
Head coach Jill Cole said the girls return their entire core from last season, giving the team experience and an opportunity to build on last year’s success.
“For both teams, it's going really well,” Cole said of the fresh season. “I mean, obviously we have all of our girls back. So they are a year older coming in with experience of putting in the work, and they're ready to hit all their big goals and basically duplicate what we did last year and hopefully have a higher standing at the state meet.”
The girls’ strength has been their depth at the front of the pack. Cole said the team’s top five runners are closely matched, creating competition while also allowing the runners to push one another during races.
“We've got a really tight pack of our top five girls that are kind of our strength, and you just never know who's going to be what number during the day which is awesome,” Cole said. “And they just feed off of each other during a race and it's been a lot of fun.”
Senior Sasha Pash has emerged as the team’s lead runner and is looking to make the most of her final season. Cole said Pash has put in the work and has a strong passion for running as she looks to reach another level.
“She absolutely has a huge passion for the sport and she's making adjustments and, you know, figuring out what to do,” Cole said. “We're working on taking the next steps to take things to the next level where we can just run to her full potential and really unleash.”
The boys are working through a different transition after graduating several seniors in recent years. Cole said the returning runners have embraced greater leadership roles and continue to make progress.
“On our boys' side, we graduated several seniors over the last few years, but the guys we have coming back are really learning how to run as leaders and they're making a lot of progress,” Cole said. “So, I think they're still going to be really tough this year.”
Kaeden Brown has been a key part of that group. After beginning cross country last year, Brown has returned with more experience and has recently established himself as the team’s top runner.
“Last year was his first year ever running cross country and (he) just learned a lot and just came in this year just really hungry and ready to step up,” Cole said. “He's been our top guy and he's just hungry for success and really leading these guys to push the pace.”
Cole said preparation extends beyond simply logging miles. The Wildcats emphasize summer base training, nutrition, sleep, mental preparation and race strategy throughout the season.
“We do a lot of mental prep and talk about race strategies and what they should be thinking about during the race,” Cole said.
With the season continuing, La Center headed to Seaside for a meet Cole said has traditionally provided an opportunity for the teams to strengthen their bonds.
“Both of our teams are just really tight and they're having a great time together, and they're enjoying the season,” Cole said. “We're going into Seaside this weekend, which is always just a super fun meet, and it really kind of creates this solid bond.”
The meet proved successful as the La Center girls won their meet and boys runner Lou Kissinger finished first in his division on the moderate course on Saturday, Sept. 26, at the Three Course Challenge. The boys team overall finished in third place.
