By Amanda Maurer
And that’s a wrap on Tempe Prep’s 2020 high school cross country team. On Friday, Nov. 13, the cross country team had their final meet. Despite only one runner making it to state, Coach Doc said “The season was very successful. There was a lot of camaraderie between the runners and most of them improved their times.”
Most runners seem to agree with Doc’s statement. Senior runner and captain Allie Youngs says, “I had fun with my teammates and coaches this season and every practice was a blast. The season didn’t go as I had thought it would due to injuries and little meets due to the pandemic. But I am honestly grateful we were still able to have a cross country season and I will miss it so much next year.”
As Coach Doc said, the season was successful. And the success of the season came from all the improvement the runners had throughout the season. On Nov. 4, a few runners had the opportunity to run in the sectional meet in order to qualify for the state meet. “There is no qualification requirement for sectionals,” Doc says. “I chose 10 runners from our persevering and hard-working team. The representatives for TPA from the girls team were Kylie Klassen, Lainey Wait, Sam Sayer, Francesca Conway, Catherine Ross, Allie Youngs, and Caroline Webster, and from the boys team Zack McIntyre, Kenneth Russell, and Adrian Palacios.”
These runners ran their 5k’s anywhere from 20 minutes to 35 minutes! But unfortunately, there were some injuries at this meet which led to only one state qualifier. Senior and captain Kylie Klassen said, “I had made state the previous two years so I was ready to go again! Unfortunately, during the race I hurt my ankle and, because of this injury, did not make state. However, I did run until the very end on my hurt ankle so I am proud of finishing the race.” Although she was not able to run another year at state, she still had a great season starting with low 24’s and ending with low 23’s!
At the sectional meet, junior Lainey Wait ran a personal record of 23:40 in her 5K and qualified to run in the state meet. This was also Lainey’s first year running on the cross country team! She said, “I ended up really enjoying it and I’ll definitely join the team again next year. The entire team was very welcoming to me and I realized how much I like to run.”
She decided to join this season after running with a friend over quarantine. Lainey also enjoyed how encouraging coach Doc was and she explains, “My coach, Doc, was one of the reasons that I put as much effort into cross country as I did. He always encouraged us to do our personal best rather than forcing us to get specific times or mileages at practice. I think this fun, stress-free practice let me enjoy running rather than see it as a chore, which led me to want to run as much as possible.”
Whether or not someone made it to sectionals or state, everyone had an amazing season. Senior Kenneth Russell said, “Doc was always energetic and pushed us. He ran with us and motivated us. He pushed everyone beyond the limit and made us all better. Overall, he’s a great coach and great mentor.” Clearly coach Doc played an important role in the success of many runners this season, and will continue to for many seasons to come.