Braving the notoriously sweltering, dust-choking annual season-opener, the girls and boys cross country teams raced in the Trojan Early Bird meet at Ashton Cross Country Course Aug. 27. The grueling conditions proved no match for the girls team, who took the overall win behind dominant individual performances from Adrienne Hodge ’29 and newcomer Jessie Blount ’29. The boys team — missing star runner Michael Hanna ’28 from a stress fracture — struggled to find their footing to start the season, placing third out of four teams.

Hodge led the girls race from the gun, maintaining a commanding gap of roughly 200 meters throughout the race and earning first with a time of 20:24.8. However, she wasn’t alone at the front; the victory was secured by podium performances from Blount, Ava Twait ’29 and Savannah Mathias ’28, who gained throughout the third mile to end in second, third and fifth, respectively. Rounding out their score, Carly Moreau finished a minute later, taking 12th. The team finished with an impressive 23 points, beating second-place Liberty with 34 points. 

Despite the team’s impressive performance, the squad consists of just 12 teammates, with the majority of whom are underclassmen. Senior Susanna Olson believes that the team’s close-knit dynamic allows even the newest members of the team to shine.

“I have the most experience out of everyone, so they come to me for questions, and we have a team song that I led. A lot of them got overwhelmed before our first meet, and I felt like I was the person who was the least worried or anxious about it, so I calmed everyone down because I’ve done it for so long,” Olson said.

Without Hanna leading the charge, the boys had to rely on other athletes to fill the gap. Strategizing to pack in the first two miles and come through in 10:45, the group was dropped by competitors in the latter half of the race. Eli Dunham ’29 led the team by finishing eighth in 17:11.6, closely followed by seniors Lars Pressler and Evan Merrill, closing in 10th and 11th, respectively. Adding to the team score, Zach Bruzek ’27 placed 14th and Dara Olaleye ’27 finished 18th.  

In the wake of their performance, Dunham hopes that the team will learn from this meet and upswing the rest of the season.

[This meet] will help our team stick together and help us run faster; we’re continuing to improve,” Dunham said. “Hopefully we can get some of our guys back, like Hanna, and try to do something good at state.” 

With a rough start to the season, the boys look for camaraderie across the team. Dylan Colleran ’27, a new member of the team, feels the welcoming environment he encountered will lead to greater opportunities.

“[The team] let me in with open arms. Everyone’s excited to be here. Everyone’s excited to talk to you. They want to get to know you. It feels like I’ve been on it for years, even though it’s only been a few days,” Colleran said. “I’m looking forward to getting better, getting to know my teammates and getting a few more meets in.”

The teams will look to build on these early results next Saturday, Sept. 5, at Crow Creek Park in Bettendorf, Iowa. This large, competitive meet will feature major Midwestern teams from across Iowa, Illinois and Minnesota.

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