Boys Cross Country
Boys cross country recently participated in the state competition at Tendick Park on November 2. The journey to State began with a successful early season, and, as the season progressed, a major focus was preparing for the Conference and Sectionals races.
“When we got to our sectional, we were well prepared, and it was a big part of our season because we got moved up to D1 because of a new rule,” said Ryan Lien, varsity runner.
This change in divisions made it challenging to qualify for and project success at State. Due to this, head coach Dominic Newman was unsure if the team would make it to the competition.
“They wouldn’t probably like hearing it, but [their chances were] 60/40, 50/50,” Newman said.
Newman found that a surprising factor that encouraged the team before State was their unexpected win at Sectionals, which gave the team motivation after what he said was a difficult race. He also credited the dedication of team members.
“The saving grace for the program making it to State was our freshman Kingston Nelson,” Newman said. “He was the only one that had a [personal record] and it was a hard course.”
With the final meet on their mind, the team and coach believed they were ready to put up a fight within their new division. The team finished 12th overall in their division. Though the team came in with fewer placement expectations than past years, Newman mentioned a sense of disappointment following the race.
“I walked away and it wasn’t a great ride home,” Newman said. “We knew we would have won if it was a D2 state title, based on times and the teams that should have been in.”
Lien felt similarly — proud of their work, but not completely satisfied with the team’s placement.
“Everyone gave it their all for that day, and pretty much the only thing you can do is do the best you can,” Lien said. “Sometimes it doesn’t work.”
He also enjoyed the close bond the team developed throughout the season.
“I felt like we have had our best season yet,” Lien said. “Our coach has mentioned a couple times that it has been the best team he has coached because we’ve had multiple people show up. Usually it’s that one runner who shows up, but we have two number one runners, and a strong pack of runners in general.”
Additionally, Newman said he is already focused on plans for next season.
“We are fired up,” Newman said. “I know these guys are training for Nike regionals in South Dakota. It’s time to get a group out there to race and see how it goes. Meets in different states like Colorado, Utah, and California are definitely on the roster because I want the group to think bigger. We want to be one of the best teams in the state and on paper. We are moving forward with that.”
Girls Cross Country
Meanwhile, the girls cross country team finished ninth out of 16 teams in their D2 State Championship race. According to varsity head coach Regina Schindel, all seven athletes representing Shorewood put forth strong performances.
“I think our team performed admirably,” Schindel said. “The girls really had a great day. [We] worked together; we had a nice pack.”
Sophomore and varsity runner Cece Axtell, who placed 56th out of 150 individual runners, was proud of the team’s performance.
“I think it went really well,” Axtell said. “Lots of our girls worked together and we all tried our hardest; we ran some really good times.”
However, several challenges set State apart from races before it, which, according to Schindel, added to the competition’s pressure and difficulty.
“The State course is significantly hillier than most courses we see all year,” Schindel said. “It gets out really fast, so you have to be mentally tough when it [is] harder than you are used to.”
Axtell said these challenges affected her mindset throughout the race.
“The biggest challenge mentally was getting past the second mile,” Axtell said. “I was really struggling because there were a lot of hills.”
According to Schindel, behind the success of the race were countless hours of hard work and perseverance from all runners on the team.
“All season we have been preparing for this,” Schindel said. “We spent a lot of time talking about how we’re the underdogs in our sectional, so to even have our girls qualify was something we had worked really hard on doing.”
According to Schindel, Success at State came not only in the form of fast times but also as a strong end to the season. She said this was a product of the supportive community the girls had created over the course of the season.
“This has been probably one of the most fun seasons I’ve had in 22 years of coaching,” Schindel said. “This group of girls really look out for each other. They really bonded as a team.”
Despite the race’s obstacles, Axtell said the team’s bond showed to be helpful throughout the race.
“Having my teammates there made it an experience that was worthwhile,” Axtell said.
Schindel also highlighted the role of her assistant coaches, Traci Murphy and Miguel Browne, in the team’s success.
“[Murphy and Browne] both bring a different kind of personality as coaches and support the team, and they really made it a lot more fun,” Schindel said.
With this race wrapping up the girls season, Schindel has high hopes for next year’s team.
“One of our goals would be to make it to State again and to do better,” Schindel said. “I’d [also] like to lift a little heavier things in the weight room too. That will help our young team, as they mature into older runners, to get faster.”