With two runners returning who earned War Eagle all-conference honors last season, will Hartley-Melvin-Sanborn’s cross country coach be looking for the pair to be the leaders of the team in 2023. “Absolutely,” stated Kirsten Taylor, who is back to head the program for a second season.
Seniors George Vargas and Lexi Croatt were both among the top 15 runners in last season’s War Eagle Conference Meet. “With Unity no longer there to take up five out of the first seven place spots, if they just open their eyes a little bit they could accomplish some pretty cool things at conference if they continue to work hard like they have been,” said their coach. “They know the expectation is higher but they’re ready to attack it.”
A third senior on the team, Jocelyn Abonce, is actually a newcomer. “She has done a really nice job for me in the mid-distance in the track season,” noted Taylor, who doubles as head girls track coach. “I’ve been trying to get her to go out and she is finally out this year so she’s an awesome addition as a senior.”
This year’s team includes seven juniors. Returning are Kam Ebel and Gracie Knobloch, along with Aiden Bush, Damian Dodge, Blaine Finster and Ryan Grotluschen. New to the team is Moises Gonzalez.
Back for her second year is sophomore Clara Funk. Joining her out of the sophomore class is Carter Dolphin, another middle distance runner in track. Out for cross country in their freshman year are Parker Salton, Easton Teal and Kam Visser.
The HMS coach doesn’t have many rules for her athletes to abide by. “I just expect you to hold integrity, give great effort and be a team,” she shared.
Taylor says that there will be competition for varsity and JV spots. “It’s really nice because Cherokee, our first meet, JV and varsity run together,” noted the coach. “There’s just two races: the girls JV and varsity and then the boys JV and varsity. Obviously, for the boys, I’m going to have to assign some of them JV, if you will, but they’re all going to be running together so that’s going to be pretty telling, just this first meet and I like that. It’s a good first opportunity to really see where we’re at.”
Performance will dictate how things play out as the season progresses. “Maybe I have three boys constantly on JV and then maybe the other six will only be varsity and maybe week-to-week that will change,” offered Taylor. “I don’t want to have an athlete running with varsity if they’re not ready. That doesn’t do anything good for anyone’s confidence. Or have them run and placing top five in JV meets every time when they could be getting pushed more in a varsity meet. Time’s going to tell. It’s exciting.”
The returning athletes have been able to get more mileage in than they did prior to last season. “We’re already ahead of the game,” commented Taylor. “It’s important as a cross country coach that each week they’re progressing. There’s a rule, by 10 percent I think it is. Just so our kids aren’t getting injured, we’re not doing too much too soon – injury burnout. So we’re already putting in more miles. Week three we are way ahead of the game from last year and I’ve been trying some different workouts and our runs are already longer at this point than they were last year. I’m learning as we go. Most of our kids are older, more mature. We can handle more.”
The HMS coach has her team running the hills near the ponds at Sanborn Golf and Country Club. “If you’re a sprinter or if you’re a 10 K’er it doesn’t matter, running hills always makes you a better running athlete,” explained Taylor. “It improves your running economy, your strength. It’s low impact. It’s going to prevent injury. And it’s a really good workout. Running hills is not fun but there’s a big payoff for it.”
The coach has discovered another location that not only features hills but allows her athletes to run on grass. “We’re going to take them up to Ocheyedan to Willow Creek Park,” Taylor disclosed. “There’s that pond, there’s rolling hills, there’s miles and miles of trails. It’s all in grass. It’s up, it’s down, it’s around the pond so we’ll get there once or twice this fall. You’ve got to assimilate what your course is going to be. Unfortunately in Hartley all we have is concrete and dirt roads. You’re not really seeing concrete much when you’re running in meets on golf courses. If you’re going to run on a very hilly course, you’ve got to get in practice where we’re running hills.”
Taylor feels that the Hawks’ schedule, which is similar to last season, will provide a suitable challenge for her runners. “We’ve got some faster, flatter courses, then we have more challenging and I call it a workout meet. You think of Pahoja, that’s what I always tell them, it’s a workout meet. We are getting better here. I don’t expect PR’s at this meet but it’s helping them with their running economy.” The coach appreciates having meets located in venues that are not too far away. The same goes for the level of competition. Said Taylor, “I think our AD and maybe the previous cross country coaches have done a nice job to get into a schedule that’s close enough and challenging enough where we see some smaller schools and then we see larger schools.”
George-Little Rock has replaced Unity Christian in the War Eagle Conference. Unity Christian has dominated cross country in the conference, but George-Little Rock/Central Lyon is not without quality runners of their own. “We see them quite a bit at meets,” noted Taylor. “They’re not new competition. Some of our kids have them as a target – the back of their jersey is.”
Both the Hawk boys and girls finished fourth in the team standings at last year’s War Eagle Conference Meet. Their coach would like to see them do at least as well this year. What would qualify as success for her individuals? “Obviously our all-conference returners can be all-conference again and maybe we sneak another one or two athletes in there,” said Taylor. “I’ve got all their times so success would be are we better at this meet this year than last year and the previous year you should have been faster than the year before.” She added, “Success is doing what you can to your best ability day in and day out, because the next day you’ll reach a new success because you should be able to push a little more.”
The coach feels that the program has experienced success in that it has retained the runners from last year while adding a few new ones. But ultimately, a program is only as strong as its individuals. “Success doesn’t mean, in my eyes, winning a state title,” concluded Taylor. “It’s persevering. It’s showing up when you don’t want to show up. It’s being there for your team. It’s helping lift your teammate after a bad day. A state title would be nice someday, but we’ve got to keep building, keep growing.”