One year removed from a third straight girls team state title, the Cardinals cross country team isn’t letting that past success add too much pressure. Instead, they are letting it push them to their very best.
After graduating much of the core that led them to the three-peat last year, the few remaining runners who ran with the winning team have already stepped in as leaders to help the next group of up-and-coming runners.
One of those seniors is Hanna Keltner, who took second at state last year. Stepping into the top spot on the team after a long line of successful runners is an opportunity, she said, to be a role model for those younger than her.
It’s the same wisdom that older runners passed down to Keltner when she was an underclassman. She said most of her motivation and inspiration last season came from Sydney Owens, who won state and is now running for the University of Kansas.
“I’m hoping to kind of shed my senior wisdom on some of the freshmen girls,” Keltner said. “Sydney would come to practice every single day working her butt off. So I was trying to implement that into my life.”
Head coach Jim Barnard said the team has grown, but is young. Close to half of the runners are freshmen and three quarters are new to high school cross country. That means most of the team has more questions than answers right now, he said.
However, Barnard has lots of answers after four decades in the cross country world and a handful of coaching awards.
“We’re all very excited about what we have,” he said. “Because what we do have is a lot of kids out for cross country. And if you have a lot of kids out, generally, you’re gonna have a pretty good team.”
He said instead of letting the team’s past success become a weight, he wants it to be a goal for the young team to strive toward.
One key to that success is for the few leaders who have won past titles and know the lofty expectations the team has for itself to be ready to push newcomers to meet the standard.
Keltner has already taken that charge, leading the team through stretches every day. Senior Addison Williams has been a strong leader and helped guide younger runners to their full potential, Barnard said.
“We could tell them that, yeah, we won three state championships in a row, but most of these girls haven’t, right?” Barnard said. “They weren’t there. But the expectation is there. We have kind of set the foundation that we expect, as a program, to be back at the state meet again this year.”
The boys team also has benefited from this boost in new runners, with new faces pushing the team to continue improving.
Senior Nate van Foeken said the boys team has a strong bond, which helps each runner perform better. When one runner passes another, they work to “stay with the pack” and run at the faster pace together.
“We push each other and keep each other accountable,” van Foeken said.
Barnard said the seniors have been instrumental in bringing the mostly-new team together.
“We have three senior boys that have all been really good and integral about learning all the kids’ names and getting the team to just kind of feel like a tight group,” he said.
Freshman Grayson Masterson has been a key part of that push, stepping in to challenge some upperclassmen and drive the team forward in his first year.
“Everybody knows everybody on the team already,” he said. “We’re all good friends, and it’s just a lot of team bonding.”
For both Masterson in his first year and van Foeken in his fourth year, the goal is the same: qualify for state.
Keltner is hoping the girls team can secure another finish on the podium and is eyeing the individual state title after finishing second behind Owens last year. But most of all, she said she hopes her teammates will see their hard work pay off with personal records at the end of the year.
“It’s really cool that I get to meet new people every single day,” Keltner said. “We have a lot of girls that are willing to work really hard, so I think we’re set really well for a podium finish at state. I’m just really excited to see what everyone can do.”
