Trojans battle Prairie Hawks, humidity in home cross country meet
The boys cross country team placed third out of 13 teams at their home cross country meet on Oct. 1 at Ashton Cross Country Course.
Seth Cheney ’23 fights to the finish during the boys home cross country meet at Ashton Cross Country Course on Oct 1. Cheney finished 45th in a time of 18:17.
October 1, 2019
Often times a runner’s greatest obstacle is in their head.
This time it was in the air.
The humidity on the Ashton Cross Country course affected all of the athletes to a measurable degree, but most came away unscathed.
“It was really humid out,” Alex McKane ’22 said. “Definitely a challenge that we’re all trying to overcome and did overcome but it made it hard.”
The boys cross country team placed third out of thirteen teams at their annual home meet on Oct. 1 at Ashton Cross Country Course with 90 team points. Prairie won the meet with 81 team points while Johnston came in second with 85 team points. The team was encouraged at the finish line by the West High drumline, who orchestrated an impressive display of school spirit on Homecoming week by playing each time a Trojan runner took on the home stretch.
In spite of unfavorable weather and rough course conditions, Nicolo Schianchi ’21 managed a fourth-place finish in a time of 16:45. Alex McKane ’21 placed 11th (17:08) followed by Ken Wilbur ’20 in 14th (17:19).
Schianchi and McKane scored the two best times for underclassmen, and with fellow sophomore Caden Noeller placing in the top 40 the future certainly seems bright for head coach Josh Kidman’s squad.
Early in the season, Kidman was concerned with his team’s mental toughness.
“Sometimes it’s easy in a race to get split up from the group you train with and give up,” Kidman said at the Prairie Invitational on Aug. 31. “From here we have a really good starting point, but just growing mentally tougher will make us a hard team to beat.”
It’s fair to say the team has grown both mentally and physically, being able to endure the wet and soggy racing conditions at Ashton and still come away with respectable times is no easy feat.
Alex Wang ’21 clocked the best JV time for Iowa City West, placing fourth overall with a time of 18:04.
The team’s next meet is at Iowa City Kickers Soccer Field on Thursday, Oct. 10 at the MVC Supermeet.
