Page 176 - 2004.Millard.North

Cross-country runners were determined to

pages by Michaela Brown
& Megan Banghart

the crowd

Cross-country was perceived as an season we didn't quali fy, " seni or Cam
individual sport as much as it was a team Deremer said .
sport. Countless hours were spent training At di stri cts, th e boys varsity placed
together as a team, yet when pu sh came to third out of seven teams. Each of the seve n
shove, and the gunshot was heard, each girl s on varsity pl aced within the top 15,
runner had the inner-desire to beat hi s or which gave them third pl ace out of six. Both
her teammate. the boys and girl s teams made it to state.
"Cross-country is such a " It was so awesome. We all had
competitive sport. It's a good thing, though one of the best races of our li ves. It was
because the outcome of the team's very conveni ent th at we all came together at
performance is improved when each runner di stri cts," sophomore Erin Keegan said.
wants to be the best," junior Danielle They ended th e season with a total
Barrow said. of 20 girl s and 29 boys on the varsity and
Both the boys and girl s teams JV teams.
improved their overall perfo rmanc es from "It's great that the turnout was so
last season. On average, each runner shaved large because the more runners there are,
off one minute and 30 seconds from their the more competiti ve it is to get on varsity,"
previous time when running 4000 meters. assistant coach Terry Thielen said.
Members from varsity and junior varsity At the end of the season, the
constantly pushed each other to give II 0% runners felt happy that they improved their
effort at each meet. times and shared lasting memories with one
"We did really well. Each person another. The athletes came together as a
had the same main goal in mind. We all team when they aimed for and achi eved the
Seni or John Sturgeon paces himself at th e Millard
South Invitati onal. Varsi ty placed seventh out of 13 wanted to make it to state because last indi vidual's best ability at every meet.
teams. At the end of the seas on, both the boys and girl s
teams set nine record meet times.

Freshman Matt Conahan pulls ahead at the Millard
South Invitational. The freshman boys won the ninth
grade division of the Class of Metro meet.
photo by Rachel Fischer Freshman Lauren Slone tu rn s the corner and sprints to the fini sh line at
the Lincoln Hi gh In vitational. The girl s pl aced first out of 10 teams .
• photo by Rachel Fischer
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