With fall coming to an end as the air gets colder, outdoor athletics end and indoor begin.

For the Cross Country boys team, the season ended in sectionals at Stevens Point, with the boys finishing 10 out of 12 teams. 

Cross Country coach Steve Danza expressed pride in how his team performed this season overall. 

“I love to watch the kids work hard in practice and that’s when they really get it and see how hard they can push their body and see some of the success with that.”

Danza believes many of the runners saw personal games because of the work they did in the offseason.

“Some of the most improved have put in some solid work over the summer and they realized the importance of working in the summer and don’t mean a job I mean running,” said Danza.

The runners set some goals for themselves. Including caring about the races more.

“This year we were actually trying to beat teams. Last year we were just pulling up and getting last, but this year we had aims to be better and we did it with both sectionals and conferences” said junior Konrad Bowlus-Jasinski.

However, as the season progressed the runners had some ups and downs.

“Our team relationship was really good. However, we had some injuries among some individuals,” said junior Davante Kieya.

Junior Matt Indergand agreed.

“We ended up at 3 for ranks but some of us didn’t recover enough and that definitely set some of us back,” said Indergard.

Overall, the team returned nearly all runners from last year except two. 

“With graduation we lost Owen Schulze and Abyanna Check who were great runners,” says Danza.  ”Owen Schulze was a nice leader and they both carried well.”

Danza hopes the improvements over the past two years will help the team perform well with many runners returning for their senior year.

“Last year they made some small improvements individually. This year they had overall the same goals. Compared to last season we are still small, but we have made improvements and have gotten much stronger,” says Danza.

Bowlus-Jasinski can see his own improvements.

“I did way better than I did last year. I got last last year at conferences. This year I got like 50th,” said Bowlus-Jasinski.

Danza and the team hopes more students consider running during the 2024 season. Anyone interested in challenging themselves and to see concrete gains should consider the sport.

“Cross country can be a sport for anybody whether you want to prepare for a sport in the winter or spring sport or you just like running. We work hard and have fun and anyone can get good at it!” Danza said.