The cross country season is in its final stretch. On Saturday, September 30, the Mead Stampede 5k marked the final meet before league and regionals.
The Mead Stampede is a narrow, flat course that runs through the grounds of Mead High School. The morning of the race, it was partly cloudy and cool; perfect running weather, which would manifest itself in the race results.
“In the end, we had all our Varsity Boys (7) run their 5k in under 19 minutes which is already incredibly impressive, and I believe a first for Frederick Cross Country. And our girls who were also aiming for impressive times, got those PR’s as well. Both our boys and girls teams took 11th place overall. As for the whole team, we had 23 runners get a season PR out of the 31 who ran, so we had a really awesome day, they were happy, and I was proud of them,” said Jenna Ptaschek, the head coach of the cross country team.
Senior Darren Reynolds finished first for Frederick boys varsity. He reached a PR (personal record) of 17:27, which is almost a full minute less than his last time of 18:26.
“I’m proud of what I did today. I’m hoping that I can turn it on even more for regionals and do better, and hopefully go to state. I’m trying to get in that mindset of going to state this year,” Darren told the Lantern.
“This is the biggest cross country team that Frederick has had in a long time.” Coach Ptaschek told the Lantern, “We are continuing to grow every year which is very exciting for me as their coach and just as someone who loves and has a big passion for this sport.”
After the league race, which took place on Friday, October 6, the only event left is Regionals, which qualifies runners for State. Runners must finish in the top 15 individually, or one of the top 3 teams, to qualify for State. Making State is a huge honor, and the coaches are really pushing for the team to make it. Last year only two students made it; now juniors Niko Carillo and Jessica Ellinger.
Coach P added, “I love this sport and I think it’s very exciting to watch Regionals go down. Anything is possible when those kids believe in themselves. I’ve seen kids at 18th place finish top 3 because they care that much themself, I think that is the most amazing thing to watch.”
