Cross country team looks back on year

Members of the LHS boys cross country team (from left) Jarod Rose, Austin Raetzel, Spencer Rogers, Zach Minor, Eddie Murphy, Devyn Small, Wyatt Reece and assistant coach Arianne Seidl listen to head coach John Reece talk about the season during the team’s banquet on Nov. 11.

The Louisburg High School cross country team came together one last time in 2015 to reminisce about a season that left a lot of lasting memories during the team’s end of the season banquet on Nov. 11.

Whether it was the first girls team title in the program’s history, or sophomore Wyatt Reece punching his ticket to the state cross country meet, the 2015 season had a lot of positives for this group of Wildcat runners.

“I think this was probably the tightest knit group of runners I have ever had here,” Louisburg coach John Reece said. “They all worked extremely hard to improve their times and they truly cared about each other.

“We have had years where kids would just come out to get in shape for other sports, and that is great too, but all of these runners cared about the cross country team by the end of the season. That is so great to see and we have a good future ahead.”

During the banquet, coach Reece also announced some changes on the Wildcats’ list of top seven runners. Wyatt Reece cracked the list this season as he recorded the seventh-fastest time in program history with a time of 17 minutes and 59 seconds.

“I thought Wyatt had a great season,” coach Reece said. “As his coach and his father, I am so proud to see him crack this list. I know he is going to be even better these next two seasons so I am excited to see how far he can go.”

Also a big change this season was the girls team switching over from 4- to 5-kilometer races. Although the change wasn’t required until postseason competition, the Lady Cats competed on the 5K level in every race this season.

With that, Reece created a new record board for the girls 5K.

Sophomore Isabelle Holtzen is now the school’s record-holder in the 5K with a time of 21:43. Junior Madelynn Yalowitz is second in 22:37 and sophomore Savannah Reinhart was a second behind her in third in 22:38.

Junior Liz Hildreth (23:30), junior Kaitlyn Gaza (23:40), freshman Alex Miller (24:56) and senior Abby Bergman (25:27) rounded out the top seven spots on the list.

“I thought all these girls did a great job with the change and ran hard all year long,” coach Reece said. “We had some good times in there and hopefully with age we can get even better. These are a talented group of girls and they all improved throughout the year. I am excited to see what we can do as a team next year.”

To round everything out, coach Reece recognized his senior group that included Devyn Small, Zach Minor, Eddie Murphy, Michael Shaner and Spencer Rogers on the boys side, along with Abby Bergman, Cierra Rose, Maddie McDaniel and manager Katie Reece on the girls side.

“These seniors have all been great for our program and each of these runners have come a long way and have improved every year,” coach Reece said. “They were a great senior class to have and they will definitely be missed. They brought a lot to our team.”