Cross Country started their season with a bang at the Preseason Wickham Jamboree on Saturday, August 19th. Edgewood is fielding a big team for the 2023-2024 season, with twenty-seven boys and twelve girls. The boys team placed 8th, and their fastest runner was Aiden Germain with a time of 17:29. On the other hand, the girls team finished 10th, and their fastest runner was Veronique Gividen with a time of 21:27. The 3.1 mile (5k) course was full of mud and water, making it pretty tough for the competitors. This race was very important for the runners because it was the equivalent to tryouts, so it basically set who made the varsity and junior varsity squads.
Some of the runners ran on junior varsity last year, but now that there are so many kids, some of them will not even be on junior varsity. Some of our younger athletes are worried about securing their spot as there is a lot of competition this year for a place on the team. Those who do not make the cut will still be able to practice with the team, but they won’t be competing unless their times can beat runners on JV.
“I just don’t want to get cut so I can stay on the team,” said Max Werder, 8.
Some of the top boys that finished after Germain were Jonas Dowdell with a time of 17:52, Logan Webb with a time of 18:16, Conner King with a time of 18:37, and Kai Worrels with a time of 18:45. Other boys that also finished in the top ten for Edgewood were Ty Pope with a time of 19:21, James Allarding with a time of 20:09, Nathaniel Sage with a time of 20:34, Derrick Caple with a time of 21:31, and finally Chris Lane with a time of 21:39.
Some of the top girls that finished after Gividen were Lilly Myers with a time of 22:23, Abigail Tomberlin with a time of 23:08, Wiktoria Gividen with a time of 24:15, and Riley Ondo with a time of 25:08. The rest of the girls in the top ten were Isabelle Myers with a time of 26:00, Mallory Manning with a time of 26:15, Marley Laughlin with a time of 27:13, Lily King with a time of 27:47, and finally Narin Schirmer with a time of 27:49
Another thing to point out is before the race, some of the runners had high expectations to finish with a good time. Unfortunately, some of them didn’t meet their goal because of how muddy and wet the course was. A lot of them didn’t expect the conditions to make the race so difficult. Additionally, many runners improved a lot from last year, and this race was a good show for it. By putting in hard work during the off season, some runners were promoted from JV to varsity as some of the top finishers. Last year, Jonas Dowdell ran on JV, and after putting in a lot of miles over the summer, he has made major improvements and was promoted to varsity this year. With all of his hard work, he placed 2nd at the August 19th race, and he is now one of the best on the team.
“I’m still working to get better and faster. Even though I’m already one of the best on the team, I’m still trying to get better,” said Dowdell, 10.
Conner King was on varsity last year, and his best time for 3.1 miles was 19:40. This year in his first meet, he has already shaved a minute off that time. He was proud of this accomplishment, but he’s not stopping there. He is still working at cutting that time down and continues to train to be his best.
“I’m really hoping that I can get 18:30 at Trinity Prep,” said King, 11.
Edgewood looked fairly well in this race, especially not having their top runner Nathan Corely. Their first regular season race will be at Trinity Prep on Saturday 8/26. If you want to support our runners, you should definitely go watch.
