After putting in a good base mileage over the summer, the Wayne High boys cross country team will look to improve their pack running.
The Blue Devil boys cross country program will consist of 17 members.
Terry Beair will be entering his eighth year in coaching the WHS boys cross country team.
Coach Beair said it’s been a busy off-season leading up to NSAA competition.
“We’ve done intervals, we’ve done tempo runs, we got out and did some hills,” said Beair. “Yeah, we’re just getting some tempo and some intervals and trying to get them race ready.”
Courtney Maas will lead the girls program for the eighth year while volunteer assistants will include Kent Pulfer and Taylor Thorp (WSC cross country runner).
Toni Rasmussen will also help with high school and coach the junior high runners.
Coach Beair added the Wayne boys marked their most mileage over their summer running in the past seven years.
“We did gain in numbers, so that was good,” Beair added. “But they’ve been really consistent about being there at open road running on a very consistent basis and putting in some good miles.”
Senior Gavin Redden will join the team after running cross country in junior high who will be alongside the lone returning senior of Kasen York who was the alternate runner for the 2023 state qualifying team.
Juniors Drew Miller and Boden Dobbins will also be upperclassmen leaders who both ran at state last year.
Wayne High boys cross country will be sophomore dominant. Returning with state experience include Emmanuel Gonzalez, Alvaro Archundia and Camden Hall.
Last year, Wayne finished 11th out of 15 Class C teams. Both York and Miller have been two-time state qualifiers after finishing 11th as a team in 2022.
A competition setting, time trials will be on Thursday, August 22 at 4:30 p.m. for the Blue Devil cross country program. The runners will compete against each other which will ultimately set the varsity top six.
“In certain cross country invites, we have to identify our varsity runners,” Beair mentioned. “So, we want to make sure that we give everybody a chance to compete but we have the strongest team possible out there. They score four and it’s interesting to see how this is going to play out because they got to compete to compete.”
The Blue Devils are coming off a district championship season.
Coach Beair has challenged his team.
“My challenge to you is to get people to talk to you about a different way and go out and win every invite,” said Beair. “We have the capability of doing that. We got some outstanding runners, I think some of the best in the state. It’s just that whether they perform or not. Our number goal is to get people to talk about us in a positive way and win meets.”
The first Wayne High cross country outing will be on Friday, Sept. 6 during the Boone Central Invite at 9 a.m. The Wayne Invite is scheduled for Monday, Sept. 16 starting at 3 p.m. from the Wayne Country Club.
