In August it didn’t look like there was going to be a 2020 cross country season – this would have been a major disappointment to all the Sentinel runners who had been working hard all summer and logging plenty of miles.  Fortunately, some COVID restrictions were lifted allowing races with fewer participants to take place.  Our schedule was diminished significantly when all the bigger invitationals were canceled but we found races where we could and doubled down on our training and mileage.

The hard work paid off as our boys’ team improved from 5th in the first conference meet to 3rd in the second meet to 2nd in the conference championship, our best finish since joining the league. The girls’ team was young and got better all season but didn’t have a team score at the championship due to injury. The confidence gained in the championship race set both teams up for a big day the pre-regional race in Pawamo on Saturday (10/24).

At the pre-regional race all seven boys’ starters and two of the girls ran their best times ever! Both of our senior captains and two freshmen finished high enough to advance to the Regional Finals next Saturday. Katie Rogers (22:04), Savannah Ricketts (23:28, PR), Carson Lucas (18:11, PR) and Anthony Urbaniak (19:09, PR) all get to race on Halloween morning. The Regional Final race will be held at Dewitt High School Saturday morning, and the top runners will move on to the State Finals the following Saturday.

“At Pre-Regionals this weekend, I am proud to say we grew closer as a team”, said Freshman Anthony Urbaniak, “We all stuck together, all pushing each other to finish strong. ALL of the boys PR’d during the race, giving us all a sense of victory!”

Other pre-regional times: Joe Braun (19:10, PR), Mikey Nassoiy (19:16, PR), James Roth (19:17, PR), Ford Rogers (19:18, PR), Ray Shumaker (19:22, PR), Taylor Quinn (26:07, PR), Lizzy Nassoiy (27:28) and Chloe Finger (28:20).

All five of our girls and all our top seven boys rank in the top 20 for fastest times in school history. This has been an amazing season with incredible accomplishments so far and four of our best runners will try to keep advancing in the post season.