Put yourself there, frigid temperatures, frost on the ground, yet adrenaline keeps you pumping. You’re tired, sweating off all the water left inside of you and you’re praying for the finish line. That’s what the Lakeville South Cross Country team has gone through and will experience next week. 

     This is the big shot race. 3.12 miles of course, some courses are better than others. Flat courses tend to improve the time of students rather than bumpy ones. This is the race that determines whether or not you move onto state or if you’re done for the fall season. This race has everyone’s nerves on edge. Some are ready, mostly for the season to be over and to move onto Winter Running or other activities that may be in store, but others are training and pushing themselves to limits they didn’t know they could exceed. Talking to some of these students gave us insight on what people were thinking.

      Ethan Starfield, a Varsity student for Lakeville South Cross Country, has a current Personal record of 15:50. He hopes to improve his time by running 15:33. This is his 5th time running this course, he says, “it’s very flat and a great opportunity to pr.”

        Another Cross country runner, Rhett Willman (JV student) has a personal record of 19:12 and says he’s planning on a 19:00 or better. Rhett stated “As this season being my first time doing Cross Country, I don’t know exactly what to expect at our first meet. We will be going to Brooktree Golf Course in Owatonna and I’ve heard this course is pretty flat which is great!” 

      You can see the agreement across both runners that they’re exstatic for the opportunity to run a flat course on their possible last run.

        Moving forward we also spoke to Annalise Gerlach. She’s a runner on JV with a PR of 22:38 stating “i’ve been injured this season and the meet coming up is only my third one this season so i’m hoping to get around 23 minutes.” She agrees that she’s excited for the course and says it’s quite a spectator friendly race!

        Next we talked to Spencer Thompson who has a PR of 19:55. He says this race is all about placement and is hoping to place JV on his team. He explained how he liked this course last year. Guess why… It’s a flat course!

      Obviously you can see how excited all the runners are about this great opportunity, but they’re nervous too! We’re rooting for you Lakeville South Cross Country! Go Cougars!!!

Photos taken by: Piper Thompson