ElDo High School Cross Country season

by Brian Goatley

The high school have just finished an extremely busy time of the season, and things are now settling down a little headed toward the climax of the season. We have had a good start to the season, and hope that this will help springboard us into an awesome finishing month.

The girls team has 2 seniors, Abby Cartwright and Sarah King, 1 junior, Abby Klaiber, and 2 freshmen, Kenli Rader and Morgan Mitchell. Kenli Rader and Sarah King have been leading the way this year, pushing each other to get better, They have both medaled in most every meet this year, except one, and both set personal best times at their last meet, Nevada with Kenli running her 5k (3.1 miles) in a time of 21:13.97 with Sarah just a few seconds back at 21:39.89. This was the first time either one had run under 22 minutes. Abby Klaiber, which has most normally been our 3rd runner, had a personal best at Nevada as well, running a time of 22:09.21. Morgan Mitchell and Abby Cartwright have been solid 4th and 5th runners for us, and they also had personal best times at Nevada, with Morgan running a time of 23:38. 24 and Abby running 24:24.28. You know that you have had a good day when all 5 runners run personal best times.

As a team they have been running better each meet as their confidence continues to grow. The team took 2nd at Nevada, 1st at Stockton and 2nd at Hermitage. They continue to stay focused and continue to improve as we let them get their legs back under them as we look to begin to wrap up the regular season in the next week and a half, and then look to districts with the hopes of qualifying for a trip to turn heads at State.

The boys team has four seniors, Caleb Mooney, Gavin Mooney, Nick Raddatz and Daniel Olegovich, three sophomores, Brice Knoll, Trevyn Garringer and Gavin Ring, as well as four freshmen, Austin Wiegel, Daelen Ackley, James King and Riley Quinlan. Daelen Ackley has led the way for the boys varsity team. Daelen, as a freshmen, has continued to grow as a runner, and has already broken the school record time of 16:16, set by Tyler Goatley, which is currently a sophomore, running at SBU university. Daelen broke the record at the Missouri Southern Stampede, winning the small schools race in a time of 16:08.80. He has been up toward the front in most of his races this season, and I think has surprised himself. Like the girls, the rest of the boys ran their best race of the season at Nevada, with the other boys running personal bests. Trevyn Garringer and Caleb Mooney have been our number two and three runners most of the season, and at Nevada, Trevyn ran 17:52. 58 with Caleb running a time of 17:56.51, both breaking 18 minutes for the first time. Brice Knoll and Gavin Mooney, have usually rounded out our top five and at Nevada, Brice ran a time of 18:13. 12 with Gavin running a time of 18:18.88. This was Brice’s first time under 19 minutes. Nick Raddatz and Austin Wiegel have been rounding out our top 7 Varsity runners and at Nevada, they also set personal best times, with Nick running a time of 18:51.48 and Austin running a time of 19:06.19. This is the first team we have had with seven runners right at 19 minutes or under. James King has led the way this year with our jv runners, and he ran a personal best time of 20:04.24 with teammate Riley Quinlan running a personal best time of 21:01.83. Both big improvements. Gavin Ring and Daniel Olegovich round out our boys team. Gavin continues to run around 24 minutes. Daniel is a foreign exchange student for us. He came to us late, and will race his first race this week at Buffalo for our Conference Championship race.

As a team, the boys have been getting better as the season has gone on. I think that they are beginning to run with a lot of confidence. They were 2nd at Nevada, 3rd at Lamar and 3rd at Hermitage.

Overall, we are real excited how both teams are running right now. They are starting to run in true form. Our next race is Tuesday, Sept. 9 at Buffalo, which is our 1st ever OMC Conference Championship race. Then Sept. 16, we host our home meet out at the golf course, to finish out the regular season. Racing for the home meet gets started at 4:00 and should be wrapping up in time for fans to then head to the volleyball match, starting at 6:00. Would love to see a great crowd there.