Bobcat XC Update

Written by Lisa Kanode | The Bobcat XC team a great day at Camp Kateri last week.  We treated this meet as our Pink Out and wear something provided by our EMF Boosters. This year we chose people to run for in memory and in honor of and wore pink headbands to recognize people who have battled breast cancer.  We also put a blue ribbon in our shoe to remember that all cancer is harsh and we want to remember Coach Pella, who recently lost her battle to Colon Cancer.  McCool has a 1779M fun run that they invite all elementary kids to join in the fun and run with the JH.  This year the Bobcats represented with 4 extra runners!  Our youngest participant was 1st grader, Wynn Weber!  Also competing was 6th graders Teddy Weber, Kenan Petersen and Knox Becker.  They ran amazing races!  8th grader, Sergio Alarcon finished 11th place and 8th grader Axel Erdkamp ran in their last JH Cross Country race.  They both made huge growth throughout the season and we are looking forward to coaching them in HS. Emily Bartels medaled 10th for the Bobcats with a time of 24:51.9. She has continued to push herself to be her best and just run.  I'm sure hearing, "just relax and run" at the start of a 3.1 mile race is amusing to the kids, but they put up with me and smile and do everything I ask.  I couldn't ask for a better group of athletes to coach.  Naomi keeps improving her times from last year and gives everything she has in the last few hundred meters of her race.  

The boys team finished in 5th place just behind Deshler and ahead of Silver Lake, Twin River and Blue Hill.  Leading the way for the Bobcats was Titus Petersen with a 13th place medal and a time of 19:50.5.  Just behind him was Beau Becker and Gehrig Weber with times of 20:48 and 20:55.  Rounding out the team was Keisyn Kirchhoff finishing with a 23:13.  If you've never been to a cross country meet, it would be pretty hard to imagine, but the amount of grit, determination, resilience and adversity one goes through from the start to the finish of a race is definitely incredible and probably what makes this sport so unique.  It has been a memorable season and we will soak in all the memories and lessons learned as we head into districts next Thursday at District-1 Race at Cass County Fairgrounds, hosted by Weeping Water.