Boys Cross Country Meet in Fort Dodge

Pete Ruden 

Sports Editor

             On Thursday October 9, the boys cross country team traveled to Fort Dodge to compete once again before the state meet. In this meet, the Rams performed overwhelmingly well, with 22 of the 30 runners from Southeast Polk setting new personal records.

            “We had four sophomores run 17;32 or better,” said head coach Patrick Owens. “The difference between the first one and the last one was just 21 seconds. 22 of the 30 who ran had PRs.”

            Throughout long seasons in every sport, teams always want to find ways to improve. In sports that involve running, that definitely tends to happen, and the Rams are no exception.

            “Our times aren’t as fast as some of the teams we’re competing against, but I think a lot of the guys are figuring out what they need to do to make their times more competitive to make their times come down,” Owens said. “I think some people have realized more what the big picture is and there are improvements that you can make from week to week and race to race.”

            This year has been different for the Rams, as they have lost senior leaders such as Jordan Toomey. The team has had to find sources of leadership from new individuals, and the team has done that, even in ways some of the coaches did not expect.

            “Some of that [leadership] has come from maybe places we as coached didn’t expect, which is good. You’re getting some of that from the people you shouldn’t be, but then some of the guys are kind of taking some ownership of things,” Owens said. “And that’s something that in the future, we need to improve on, because next year we will have very few seniors, so some of these younger guys, especially, we will need them to be our leaders.”

            The Rams only have two more meets before the state meet is upon them, so they will definitely be trying to improve even more before that. The team’s next meet will be on October 15 at the Iowa State cross country course.