The cross country team competed in their league meet Oct. 12 at the Lakeside High School Invitational, Downs.

While other schools ran at the meet, all NCAA league teams competed, so league placings were considered, as well as overall finishes. One major challenge for the runners was the weather.

“It was little surprise that the weather fought us yet again this season,” Head Coach Eric Coonrod said. “The Downs course is wide open with little wind break, and there were high winds that day. This did not help anyone get personal best times.”

The varsity girls’ team entered three runners, freshmen Molly Ehrlich and Reese Grothusen and sophomore Kate Rathbun. Although she has been running in the varsity races until this point in the season, sophomore Addison Thomas was unable to compete in Downs due to a stress fracture in her foot.

“I’m not exactly sure when it happened, it’s just a common injury in runners,” Thomas said. “I was running with a sharp pain in my foot for about four weeks. I didn’t really think anything of it, so I just iced and wrapped it. It didn’t get any better, so I decided to get an X-ray. The X-ray didn’t pick up on the fracture, but it showed soft tissue swelling, so I got an MRI just to be on the safe side. That’s when we figured out it was a fracture.”

Because of the foot injury, Thomas is also unable to finish the remainder of her season.

“It’s definitely a frustrating end to the season,” she said. “I’m hoping for a fast recovery.”

Not only does the abrupt ending of her season affect her ability to run, but the girls’ team is also unable to enter a full five-person team for regionals, meaning they cannot qualify for the state meet as a full team.

“Addison’s been fighting this injury for several weeks, and in spite of that, almost posted a personal best time in Lyons,” Coonrod said. “With her injury, we will not be able to field a full team, so all the runners will be individuals at regionals. I hope Addison has a quick recovery.”

While the girls cannot finish with a regional championship as a team, the available runners are still working hard to qualify individually.

Lakeside medaled the top 25 runners, so Ehrlich’s 16th place overall finish with a time of 22:58 allowed her to conclude the regular season with a medal at every meet.

However, the league only medaled the top 10 runners, so her 12th place league finish put her just out of the standings for a league medal.

“My goal at the beginning of the year was to place at every meet, and so far I have accomplished that,” Ehrlich said. “It makes me want to push harder at regionals because I have set a goal for myself and would love to achieve that goal. My coaches and my mom have helped me achieve my goals. They have both helped me and encouraged me to push myself and get better.”

Rathbun finished with a time of 24:54. She earned a 35th place finish overall and a 19th place league finish.

“Our girls’ team has pushed me the most this season,” Rathbun said. “We have such a supportive and close group of girls this year. Whether it’s at a meet or even at practice, we push each other and cheer each other on.”

With a time of 27:32, Grothusen placed 49th overall and 23rd in league standings.

In the varsity boys’ race, the Bearcats entered junior Trenton Holmes, who placed 41st overall. Holmes ran a time of 21:08, placing 15th in the league.

Regionals take place Oct. 21 at Lake Barton, Great Bend.

“... I’m excited, and since only a few of us on the team have run at a regional meet, I’m excited for the rest of the team to have that experience too,” Rathbun said.