The Park Hill cross country teams will begin the fall season at different stages as the girls set out with veteran leadership while the boys look to develop younger talent.
The girls return four varsity runners who have all worked hard to improve from last season. Head girls coach Benjamin Yesenia is feeling optimistic that his team will see the results of their effort and the growing number of participants.
“The growth in team numbers has me excited this year,” Yesenia said. “Last year, our team consisted of 12 girls with a lot of injuries. This year, the team consists of 15 girls who seem to be healthy at the moment.”
The girls team graduated just one player from last year’s team, leaving senior Annie Chambers to lead the way this fall, breaking a 5K personal record of 22 minutes, 51 seconds. Junior Stella Grothaus and sophomore Krissy Kennaley have also cracked under 23 minutes while sophomore Annabelle Stapleton has also made substantial progress.
“If this season goes the way I hope, the biggest reason will be the positive senior leadership on this team,” Yesenia said. “Over the summer, I saw my senior group of girls step into their leadership roles confidently. I know that they will be the best role models for any underclassmen to help our program build a base of hard workers that will take them through the remainder of their cross country season.”
The boys finished third at the conference meet last year, but graduated four of their seven runners. Junior Colton Hardy has been a mainstay in the program since his freshman year and returns after finishing 13th in the conference 5K last season, but just missed qualification for state.
“We have the biggest boys team we’ve had in a long time,” head boys coach Nick Gardner said. “I hope to see some new faces jump up. Our varsity team is essentially up for grabs outside of Colton (Hardy).”
The boys team is looking for improvements, whether that comes in results from races or the general team dynamic. The focus will be on progress and development for the future.
“We graduated several varsity-level seniors last year and are looking to have a pretty young team this year,” Gardner said. “I’m looking forward to see who steps up next to lead the team into the future.”