Cross Country Conference Meet

By Brinley C.

Did you know a cross country course is 3.1 miles long? The Roland-Story Cross Country team headed to Nevada on October 14, 2024 to compete in the conference meet. The team has put a lot of work into perfecting their performances and were ready to compete. The meet didn’t go as expected but the team still ran their best times and gave themselves a chance at winning. 

This was the first meet where temperatures were below 80 degrees. In fact, it was around 50 degrees so the team was ready for their first cooler meet. 

This course is a little different than most. Most of the time they are held on golf courses and you do a lot of back and forth, although this time the runners are running around a lake. The athletes run through the woods as they are slowly making their way around the lake. Since they are mostly surrounded by trees on their run it limits the spectators. There are not a lot of people cheering them on. They are on their own, which is hard. They need to keep a positive mindset. 

The boys ran first and the girls followed. JV and Varsity ran together so it allowed for a smoother run race, you get done faster. 

For the boys team Corben Lucchesi finished in 1st place with a time of 17:08. Evan Voga had just been cleared to run for this meet after sitting out for recovery for a couple of weeks. He placed 11th at conference with a time of 18:04. Overall the boys team ended in 3rd at conference. 

The girls team had three girls place at conference. Claire Truesdell ended in 6th place with a time of 20:42. Sophie Bates got 8th place with the time of 21:22. Lastly, Kara Paterson placed 11th with a time of 21:26. The girls team fell to PCM and got runner up at conference. 

Following the conference meet is the placings for districts. The girls and boys team will be traveling to Orange City on October 24, 2024 for districts to qualify for state. 

Location: Nevada, IA 50201, USA

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