“Training has been really hard and intense, so we’ve seen a lot of improvement throughout the season,” junior Ashton Dahlem, the team’s top female runner, said.
At the first run of the season, the boys’ varsity team placed 5th and the girls’ varsity team placed 2nd, while in one of their more recent races both teams placed 1st.
This season’s teams are made up of mostly upperclassmen, but a few freshmen and sophomores have made the cut as well. Additionally, some of the best athletes are new to cross-country.
The 3rd best athlete on the girls’ team used to be a sprinter and just joined this year. The number one athlete on the girls’ team, junior Ashton Dahlem, got into cross-country at the beginning of her sophomore year after taking a liking to running while training for soccer.
Ashton is doing so well this year, in fact, that there is a high likelihood she will break the school’s female time record for a 5k of 18:33.
Not all the competitive athletes are on the girls’ team though. The title of top athlete on the boys’ team is constantly switching between juniors Breaden Hunt and Heath Maquire, both of whom are destined for state at the end of the season.
At the moment, the girls are ranked in the top 15 in 3a Classification while the boys are in the top 40. At a state level the girls are ranked in the top 50 and the boys are just outside of that.
There have been 7 meets this season and the GBHS cross-country schedule indicates that there are at least 3 meets left. That’s not including state or taking into account any potential reschedules.
Next weekend, female athletes Ashton Dahlem and Kenna Borras along with male athletes Breaden Hunt and Heath Maquire are planning on running in the FSU Pre-state race as individuals. They have high hopes for this meet and are looking forward to running on the FSU campus track.
FHSAA State Championships are being held on Nov. 22. This will be the closing meet of the season. To take part in this meet, the teams must either qualify as a whole or send their best athletes as individual runners.
“The girls’ team is seated to qualify for state… The boy’s team is on the bubble, it could go either way,” boys’ cross-country coach Scott Gordon said when asked if he thinks the teams will make it to state.
Even if the boys’ team does not qualify, Breaden Hunt and Heath Maquire are set up to go as individuals.
Any students looking to get into cross-country are highly encouraged to give it a shot. “If you join, you’ll have more fun than you think you will,” junior Breaden Hunt commented and as Ashton Dahlem so aptly described the team environment, “All of us are really close together, like there’s not really any separate groups.”
Even those who don’t think they’ll like running might be surprised at how much they enjoy it. The team environment, along with the personal accomplishments of the individual runners, might be just what you’re looking for in a sport.
If you think that cross-country might be too hard or you can’t run that far, Coach Gordon has some good advice: “We work with those athletes…take it slow, take it step by step to build that base. You know, you don’t have to go out and do a lot of hard work-outs. It’s just getting some runs in. Just start with 10 minutes, then 15, then 20, then 30 and before you know it, it becomes a little bit easier for you to get a run in.”