Louisburg Cross Country Continues Strong Start

The Louisburg Wildcats boys and girls cross country teams continue to place towards the top at all of their meets.

Last week, they finished off their meet at Wellsville placing top five in team placings. The girls team finished first with the boys team finishing fourth. 

The team faced extreme heat conditions last Thursday as it was a blistering 91 degrees, with the real feel temperature being 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Despite the heat, the cross country teams adapted and pushed themselves to the finish line.

“Wellsville was a different beast,” said head coach John Reece. “The temperature were very high which made for poor racing conditions… all runners embraced the uncontrollables and ran well.”

Even with the heat the Louisburg Wildcats boys and girls teams were able to finish top 5 as a team with three runners in the top 10. The girls had sophomore Maddox McGhee place fifth and junior Hailey Shelton finished in seventh. Sophomore Denver Schnelle finished ninth for the boys.

“Since they shortened the race to two miles, we took a different approach to the race,” said Reece. “We suggested to start in control and at 800 to 1200 meters crank it up if they were feeling it. This proved to be a great strategy on a hot day as the girls team won.”

The boys and girls cross country teams look to improve as they look to race in Prairie View. With initial success in their first meets the teams are focused on the end of the season to hopefully be successful going into state competitions.

“Our training regiment is focused on the end of the season so this week’s workouts are set for that. We are hoping to see a continued progression in our competitiveness and continue to improve our times.” said head coach Reece.

The Louisburg boys and girls cross country teams faced off against Paola and Prairie View at Prairie View High School yesterday. The boys finished 1st and the girls also finished 1st. They will look to continue the hot start, as they head into October.  

– Payton Crooks