The Hawks Cross Country (XC) season is off to a running start. With their first meet under their belt, the XC kids have left quite an impression. Results from the Hillsboro Earlybird XC Meet show Horace’s JV team in 2nd place for both the girls and the boys. The varsity team also saw success, particularly with one of the girls’ captains, Brooklyn Herrick, taking 3rd in the women’s varsity division. Overall, this was a strong showing for Horace and a promising first performance for such a young team.
We managed to get an interview with Owen Rohr, captain of the boys’ XC team. When asked about the first meet, Owen prided the team on being able to seriously compete against well-established teams, stating, “Our boy’s program is really starting together. As a whole, as a team, and performance-wise, we are starting to improve and catch up to the other people around us. We are no longer seen as a ‘joke’ anymore.”
When discussing the team’s younger ranks, Owen enthusiastically spoke on how important the younger members are to the longevity of the team. “The younger kids are going to be a huge, huge benefit to our team, seeing as, instead of having to pick up their junior or sophomore year and just put them on the team, we’ll have kids that have been running for 3-4 years before that now coming in with more experience. Really taking those middle schoolers and building them up to be real participants and athletes.”
Things are looking good for the Horace Cross Country team, and with the team’s dedication to improvement, more successes are just down the road.