Last Thursday our Palisade Cross Country team raced their final and most important meet of the season, the regional championship. With the opportunity for state qualification just ahead of our team, our racers competed their hardest and left a season’s worth of training on the course.

The race was at Lincoln Park Golf Course. The course consisted of two large loops and was a 5k race (3.1 miles). Unfortunately, the weather was unusually hot affecting racing performance across the board. Everyone raced with everything they had and ended with a very successful final meet of the season. The girls racing were Aspen Johnson (22:11), Brielle Sorensen (23:48), Sophia Dery (25:19), Amy Talbott (26:14), Ema Babnic (26:33), and Abby Price (26:56). The boys were Hank DeFord (17:12), Quintin Motter (18:36), Chase Edmonds (19:02), Brady Russel (19:53), Hunter Rish (22:39), Will Neese (26:22), and Zach Price (29:31). This season was filled with person records from many throughout the team as well podiums. The team has had massive improvements from last season and will continue to grow in the coming years. 

I personally was a part of the cross-country team this year and can say it was an incredibly successful season for everyone. There were so many personal records and also many podiums. A lot of our racers were close to state this year. I am confident that many will qualify next year. I believe that a lot of the team’s success this year is due to our new coach, Coach Pietroski. She pushes this team past what is expected and has made them a prominent team in this school and this district. Overall this was a very successful season and it is just the beginning, many athletes will come back to run track in the spring and continue to race next year. Congratulations to our Bulldogs for an amazing cross-country season!