As a habit, the boys’ cross country team hit the ground running. The competitive team started their season with a win on Saturday, August 26 at Prairie High School. The 3A team began their season in the top ten, and have kept their ranking.

Although the team is ranked as a whole, there is currently only one individually ranked runner, senior John Pape. He is ranked 21st. He has ran on the varsity team all four years, and this year earning the title of captain. His co-captain is senior Nolan Pithan.

Pape and his teammates logged 400 training miles over the course of the summer, as well as weight lifting. Pape hopes this intense training will help him achieve his goals for the upcoming season.

“Individually, I aim to finish in the top 15 at state this season,” Pape said. “My goal for the 5k is to get under 16:40.”

Pape believes that despite the team’s fluctuating rankings, their rank will always reflect their hard work and will push them to be better than their best.

“With both the team and individual rankings, both of them challenge me, each race, to run harder for the team,” Pape said. “As a team, our goals are to get back to the state meet and finish in the top three teams at state.”

This goal is a repeated theme throughout the whole team. Senior Jon Lansing also has his eyes locked on a shot at state.

“Individually, I want to get in the top 10 at the state meet. As a team, our ultimate goal is to win state,” Lansing said. “We all know that we are capable of winning, and if we race as a team, I know our goal will become a reality.”

Although Lansing is not a captain he is still an inspiration to the team. Although he is not ranked now, he began his second cross country season ranked 11th in 3A boys.

The Saints placed 7th at the Prairie Invitational, 5th at the Linn-Mar Invitational, 15th at the Cedar Rapids Invitational, 17th at the Luther “All American” Invitational, and 8th at the Cedar Falls Invitational.

The state hungry Saints race again at the Eastern Iowa Classic on Thursday, September 21 at 4:30 p.m.

Syd Walther

Sports Writer