Last weekend the Palisade cross country team had their first meet of the season, performing great even after bad weather. The night before the meet, there was a crazy thunderstorm leaving the ground on the course muddy. The team had to adjust to a big course change, forcing them to adapt quickly.

 The changed course made it so the racers would run past the finish line and do a small loop twice. The whole team raced their best and performed amazingly despite it being the first meet and the hot weather.  “The meet went really well, I’m really proud of how everyone did,” says Will Neese, “The changed course was mentally really hard because you have to pass everyone more than once, but at least it was flat.” Will Neese is a junior this year and has done cross country since his sophomore year.

The meet was Saturday and hosted by Central. Palisade had 13 entries, 10 of which were varsity entries and 3 in JV. There are four new members to the cross country team this season. “They were defying expectations, which was really cool considering it was the first meet,” said Neese. Aspen Johnson got the fastest time for Palisade girls, with a time of 23:12. I personally am a member of cross country and raced at the meet this weekend. The course was difficult but satisfying and the whole team did incredible. I made a personal record of 18:27 and placed 11th in my race which was the fastest time for Palisade this meet. This was a and a massive surprise for me because it was my the first cross country race ever. Overall it was a very good race and a great start to an amazing Palisade cross country season. Make sure to go support the Palisade Cross Country team as they travel to Carbondale next Saturday.