Cross Country: A Season in Review

Cross Country: A Season In Review

On Halloween day, the boys’ and girls’ cross country teams wrapped up their 2020 season by participating in the KHSAA state championship. Both teams did an outstanding job, with the boys placing 9th and the girls placing 17th. The journey to state was not an easy one, and the opportunity to participate in the state meet was never something that was going to be handed to them. In addition to fighting a pandemic, our Bulldogs would have to compete against private schools that had been practicing way before JCPS schools could. 

So how did they manage it? When talking to Caroline Kolb (‘21) she said, “The 2020 cross country season definitely had its challenges that set it apart from past years, but I feel like those obstacles that our team had to face together really sparked a unity in the team that will continue through to the team’s future...I was truly blessed to be a part of the Male High cross country family."

Out of the seven Lady Bulldogs who ran at state, only two of them were seniors. This was very promising to the girls cross country coach, Damon Smith, who said, “This year we were 17th, hopefully next year we’ll be shooting for top 10, junior year top 5, and hopefully if they [freshman] all stay together and work hard by their senior year we’ll be contending for the state championship.”

When talking to Nate Rogers (‘22) about the season he said, “This season was definitely an odd one, but we banded together as a team and as brothers to have a nice finish at state.” Being one of the three juniors who ran at state, we asked him how he felt about stepping into a leadership position next year when he was a senior. He said, “It definitely feels cool, thinking about how much I looked up to the seniors when I was a freshie...I never thought I’d be in the other position.”

The 2020 season was a strange one for everyone, except maybe the freshmen who didn’t know any different. Emma Johnson, a freshman on the girls cross country team who finished first for Male in the state meet said, “Coming in as a freshman during COVID was different than years past, but my teammates and I pushed through and finished the season strong. I am blessed to run cross country with awesome teammates and be able to represent Male High.”

Freshmen weren’t the only ones this year who were new to the running family. Senior Sara Kate Wiseman said, “I’m so glad I got to be a part of a team my senior year! With a lot of things getting canceled, I really wanted to make sure I had no regrets after graduating high school. The team was so sweet to me and I made a lot of good friends. Even though it was a bumpy season, each of us made a lot of growth.” 

The future of the cross country team is in good hands, with Cooper Chandler (‘21) telling us that, “As a team we did really good with many guys making big jumps to make up for the seniors we lost on the varsity team last year.” With this type of improvement, the cross country team has a promising future with representing Male. Go Bulldogs!