By Cameron Hill
The high school cross country team quite literally sprinted across the finish line at the state meet, causing a successful end to a successful season for Tempe Prep’s team. Though it is very difficult to do, three Tempe Prep runners qualified for state and proudly represented Tempe Prep.
The three runners were freshman Samantha Sayer, sophomore Zack McIntyre, and junior Kylie Klassen. Of the three runners that competed at state, all three made Tempe Prep proud by either getting a personal record or beating their previous state time. These accomplishments were the culmination of a long, hard season which embodied Tempe Prep Athletics’ motto of “work works.”
Coach Doc Hickernell, Kylie, and Zack each offered their own personal insight into what made this cross country season a success. Coach Doc attributed the great success of the team to “the hard work and fun that everyone put in to make the season a great experience,” while Kylie attributed the success of the team to “making the most of our practice time” and “the longer training runs that we do just to get miles in.” Zack added a similar sentiment to his coach by saying, “The team’s good attitude this year allowed us to do well.”
As the coach and team will affirm, the team had a great attitude towards running and had a lot of fun this season. Zack said some of his favorite memories from the season came from “when we played Ultimate Frisbee as a team.” Coach Doc stated that “the season was fun and successful due to a great attitude and hard work.”
Clearly the cross country team was having a great time running and bonding as a team. Speaking of bonding as a team, Kylie said, “my favorite part of the season was growing closer to all of my teammates and really bonding over our love of running.”
Coach Doc said that one of his favorite memories of the season was “seeing the three runners from the team who made it to state run very well at state.” He did not want this to discount the achievements of the rest of the team. Just under 10 runners still made it to sectionals of which 3 made it to state. This really is an incredible accolade for a small school such as ours.
The team members were understandably very proud of their achievements. Kylie said that she was “most proud of lowering my time in the 5k by a minute and medaling at the sectional meet,” while Zack similarly stated that he was most proud of his 18:54 personal record.
The cross country team was able to end their successful season with a bang at state. The team was able to balance fun and hard work and had a great attitude towards their work. Zack also wanted me to mention that the team is always looking for more members, so if you like running and tons of fun you might consider doing cross country next year.
Middle School cross country ends a season of growth
While the middle school team was small in size, the team had great heart and an even greater work ethic. The runners would wake up early in the morning and have practice at 6 a.m. so that they could be prepared for the meets. They competed hard at every single meet and many runners got personal records during the season multiple times.
Six runners competed at the championship meet and all got a personal record which is extraordinary. For a small school like us it was a great success to have six runners at the middle school championships.
The middle schoolers ran hard all season and they came out of the season having produced tangible results from their great work ethic. If you are in middle school, love running and want to get even faster, then the middle school cross country may be an activity you would like to do next year.