A fourth year under the cross country cooperative agreement between Allen and Emerson-Hubbard is set to begin as there has been growth in participation.
Throughout the Fall of 2025, nine athletes have committed to the Tri County Northeast Wolfpack. Last year, there were eight.
It also will allow both the girls and boys teams to have 'team scoring' at their meets this year," said head coach Dave Uldrich. "In the past, athletes had to run for individual medals and could not be ranked in team scoring due to the lack of a minimum amount to do so."
Along with coach Uldrich, Casey Brentlinger will be another Wolfpack cross country coach.
Senior Alejandra Hermosillo is a two-time state qualifier for the Wolfpack girls. She took 58th (22:28.6) last season and 71st (23:57.7) in 2023.
Other team members include Rachael Bousquet, Chloe Peters and Hailey Millard.
For the Tri County Northeast boys, junior Jude Ridenour is a returning state qualifier who placed 70th (18:46.9) in last year's meet held in Kearney. He also holds all course records of the cooperative.
Others include Alex Snyder, a medalist in 2024 regular season runs; Tucker Anderson; Logan Kraemer and Matt Bousquet.
Of all boys and girls on both teams, five are returning athletes and four are new to the sport.
“There will be a lot of learning for the new athletes, but that is the only way growth will occur," said Uldrich. "Of the returning athletes, they have shown improvement over the course of time that they have participated, and I expect that they will improve even more. Nothing in this sport is guaranteed to anyone, so being prepared for the physical and mental challenges each week is what we will focus on.”
Two recent state qualifiers joined the Wayne Herald during the Tri County Northeast media day on August 20 in Emerson (XC, volleyball, girls golf).
Alejandra Hermosillo is a senior girl from Emerson while Jude Ridenour is a junior boy from Allen.
Hermosillo, started running cross country her sophomore year but has always been a distance running in junior high and freshmen years for track.
She was able to get as much running in over the summer as she could by herself and with her teammates.
"We've been fighting the heat so it's been hard to get out and really work on all of our things," said Hermosillo. "In the beginning we started with hills and we did our first timed 5k. We're going to practice more and more and then run that again once the heat isn't so bad and see if we improve."
A goal for the Wolfpack girls is to make it to state as a team.
Hermosillo is most excited about becoming a better runner this season. Her personal goal is to drop her time further down each meet while competing with other runners this year.
Ridenour worked on hills and continued his distance prep closer as school began. He didn't pick up distance running until his freshman year in track and first competed in the sport of cross country last year.
For the Wolfpack boys, their goal is to win conference, get a medal at conference and win some meets.
"My goal is to run a sub-18 and place in the top five during conference," said Ridenour.
The team has been running their 5k's at practice while also getting some work up and down hills as well as treadmills when it's warm outside.
Both shared a message to the underclassmen to keep the Wolfpack program growing.
"You're in a team sport and you feel like you're not being used and you're feeling left out I think there's other opportunities out there," said Hermosillo. "People look at cross country like it's just straight running, like I can't do that. I think it's more than just your physique and it's mental. So, if you have a good mental mind of you being better I think cross country is the sport for you."
"You just have to work every day and keep doing what you love. Just work," said Redenour.
To their fans and their family:
"I don't think people realize that crowed helps," said Hermosillo. "Even if it's not my family. Just even hearing the cheering from everyone that's lined up to watch you run and how incredible people come out to support cross country."
Thanks for cheering me on," said Ridenour. "It really helps. It's surprising how much power you can take from the crowd into your run.
The Tri County Northeast Wolfpack will open their season on August 28 during the Logan View/Scribner-Snyder Invite.
