Members of the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge girls and boys cross country program met for team runs and are continuing to work on their pace.
As the sun rises during the first week of NSAA practices, the Bears begin each session with their stretches and dynamics before going out for a run around the Cedar View Country Club in Laurel.
Brandi Settje will bring in five years of coaching cross country for LCC and is entering her third year at the helm.
New assistants this year are Bryce Holcomb, Megan Granquist and Carter Korth.
LCC XC (cross country) will be made up of six girls and seven boys. The two senior girls are Addy Hoeppner and Kate Tasler (state qualifier last year) along with Shane Langford (state qualifier with the 2023 team) for the boys.
The coaches will be looking at their upperclassmen after losing a four-time and three-time state qualifier on the boys side.
Along with their team runs and recommended lifting schedule, the Bears also participated in the Homer XC camp over the summer.
"Pacing and gaining speed are two items being addressed during the first week of fall practices," said Settje. "While we also have a great base of distance from summer."
Training smarter while learning pacing will be goals the coaching staff would like to achieve. Equipping the runners with mental toughness and learning to listen to their bodies will pay off down the road.
The LCC leaders have been showing up and putting in the distance. 'They are determined to reach goals this year and have the best season yet', according to coach Settje.
"I'm excited about all of our kids coming in this year," Settje added. "The dedication and work in the summer has been outstanding."
Senior Kate Tasler for the LCC girls has been running cross country since seventh grade.
"I feel like we've had a really big focus on building our milage and we have really worked on pacing, said Tasler. "Not just going out and running, but actually sticking to a pace."
The LCC girls will focus on packing together as a team, sticking to a pace and building excitement for the season.
"A goal is to win some hardware, Tasler added. "We've been so close several times the past couple of years."
Senior Shane Langford for the boys didn't pick up running cross country until his sophomore year at LCC.
The LCC boys are mainly focused on running good times and PR's and to also win some meets and conference.
A goal is to, 'drive to place top 15 individually at districts and also qualify the team,' according to Langford.
Both Tasler and Langford said they ran a lot over the summer. Langford has gone through the easy runs, workouts and long runs averaging 35-45 miles per week.
A message to the underclassmen:
"The team is so encouraging and it's worth it to put in the work," said Tasler "Once you start putting that work in you will see results."
"We all start somewhere," Langford added. "Just have to make sure you push every single day and eventually you'll get a lot faster."
The Bears return a state qualifier in senior Kate Tasler for the girls (22:14.6) who finished 54th last year while sophomore Faith Galvin qualified in 2023 placing 53rd (23:23.8). Shane Langford (2023) was a member of the LCC boys team who qualified two seasons ago after placing 116th (21:13.3).
"Was surreal and so cool," Tasler mentioned. "A goal of mine is to make it back and do better than last year."
The LCC girls and boys cross country season will begin with the Hartington Invite on Thursday, August 28 at 9 a.m. The Bears will need to get everybody on the same page for pacing to run smarter but not necessarily train harder.
The LCC Invite is slated for September 11 at 10 a.m.
