Returning experience has shown great competition among the Wayne High girls cross country program with a battle for the top spots in practice ahead of an upcoming time trial.
WHS girls will be made up of nine high school and 10 junior high runners.
Courtney Maas will be entering her 16th year with the cross country program and will be starting her eighth year leading the girls team.
Coach Maas said after getting a good base mileage, the team has been using that to work on speed.
“We’ll just continue working on keeping it light and not feel stresses of everyday life especially now that school is in sessions,” said Maas. “Practice should be fun and somewhat of a stress reliever and being around your friends. Just really trying to keep it light and work on the speed.”
Terry Beair will lead the boys program for the eighth year while volunteer assistants will include Kent Pulfer and Taylor Thorp (WSC cross country runner) as Toni Rasmussen will assist with the junior high team.
Coach Maas highlighted their summer training.
“We really just worked on getting a good base mileage during open road,” Maas added. “Focused on building endurance through those longer runs and building relationships with each other and just really having fun.”
Last year, Wayne High had junior Ava Elliott qualified at state as she added some extra credits to graduate early off to college.
Olivia Hanson, Yama Kantai and Norah Armstrong will make up the senior class.
Coach Maas mentioned the upperclassmen have been running together since junior high.
“They go back and forth of who is going to be our top runners,” Maas mentioned. “Right now I would say Lilyan Hurner, Yama (Kantai), Kennasyn (Blecke), Josie (Ley), Norah (Armstrong) and Olivia (Hanson) they’ve all been running consistently through the summer and are so experienced.”
Another top runner in the past has been Essynce Owens-Webb who has been taking care of an injury. She recently started back up on Tuesday.
During the Yankton (SD) team building trip coach Maas told the team to take it one day at a time, enjoy the process, stay positive and have fun.
The Wayne High cross country season will open on Friday, Sept. 6 during the Boone Central Invite at the Albion Country Club starting at 9 a.m.
Coach Maas said there’ll be something special following their home invite on Monday, September 16 at the Wayne Country Club after working with Molly Redden as other teams are invited to join.
“P.A.L.S stands for Pushing All Limits,” said Maas. “It’s a program designed for children in grades K – 12 who have minimal to moderate challenges including developmental delay, attention deficit, autism, sensory issues, coordination difficulty, fear of movement and so much more.”
The high school and junior high races will be held starting around 3 and 4 p.m. with a parent’s night to also follow the P.A.L.S event.
The first of two time trials will be on Thursday, Aug. 22 at 4:30 p.m.
