A brand new northeast fall sports team will make a debut this month for the Wakefield girls and boys cross country season.
Allie Holcomb will make history with a new sport for the Trojans. She'll be in her first year as the head coach but brings in coaching track along with running for the Wayne State College Wildcats (Rosener 2018-21).
Wakefield XC will be made up of five girls and two boys with no seniors.
Towards the end of last school year, there was interest shown in adding cross country.
Trojan runners met once a week in July to run together. The group also had a running calendar to provide an outline of workouts to prepare them for the season.
"We are working on understanding the sport of cross country, as this is the first year of cross country for all but one runner," said Holcomb. "We are working on building our endurance and preparing for our first meet."
A goal for the team is to have fun and always give 100% which allows them to set personal bests and always walk off the course proud.
All athletes have done track in the past and just one did cross country at a previous school.
A previous member of the Wakefield football team, junior William Benson is the lone member with cross country experience previously running for Homer before he transferred.
"Ran when I could, I did baseball," said Benson. "So, I just put in miles whenever I could over the entire summer."
His first interest to cross country was in sixth grade during a meeting for underclassmen to get into the sport at Homer.
During fall practices, Benson has been looking to grow the team as much as they can.
"Work towards the first meet to see where we are at."
To the new runners, "don't be intimated by the running."
He's also excited to get some baseline numbers for the year.
Junior Jennifer Lopez Hernandez was at Emerson-Hubbard through her eighth grade year and then transferred to Wakefield her freshman year.
Hernandez shared her reason why she joined cross country.
"Really enjoy running," said Hernandez. "I've done track since sixth grade and I've been a distance runner. I just think there's passion when I run."
She was a member of the Trojan volleyball team last year but started running in sixth grade for distance and was never an issue to run a mile or two.
Over the summer, runners worked on putting in a lot of miles, running with each other and cheering each other on.
"Cross country is an individual sport but also cheering people so they would not quit the race but finish it strongly."
Not stopping when in pain, working through the pain and achieving a faster time for future meets is a goal Hernandez is looking to achieve.
Hernandez has been enjoying the new sport.
"I encourage it," said Hernandez. "Running might not seem like a typical sport. But it's really fun. The bonding you make with the girls is so cool."
Last day of school there was an interest meeting at Wakefield to decide to have cross country with the seven kids wanting to join for the 2025 season.
Wakefield will open their cross country season on Thursday, August 28 during the Hartington-Newcastle Invite starting at 9 a.m.
"If you can come out, please do because the cheering is really helpful," said Benson.
"Come out and cheer us all on because I feel like that helps all of us during the race," said Hernandez.
Coach Holcomb will be looking for the team to model perseverance, positivity and enthusiasm.
"Support means the world to our runners," said Holcomb. "Cheer them on whether they are at a meet or running around town."
