Trinity Lutheran and Crothersville cross-country coaches will be looking for individual improvements this fall since neither school has enough runners to compile a team score.
Heading up the Crothersville girls is Kaylyn Holman, who qualified for the state meet last fall.
Other members of the CHS girls team, all seniors, are Ella Plasse and sisters Kennadi and Kiarra Lakins.
Carl Bowman is coaching the Crothersville runners, and on the boys team, he has junior Andrew Stainbrook and freshmen Dirk Crater and Corey Reynolds.
“We’ve got four good girls,” Bowman said. “Hopefully, Kaylyn will pick up where she left off. Kennadi did well for us last year. She’ll do pretty much what she needs to do. Kiarra has been here all summer working with Marc (Bowman, assistant coach). Ella did a lot this summer and does a lot on her own. Since we don’t have a team, we’re looking for good places in all the invitationals.”
Bowman said Stainbrook has been bothered by a foot injury, so he has got to get back into it.
“Dirk was the top junior high boy runner last year, and he’s doing pretty well,” Bowman said. “He likes running. He’s one of those kids that likes setting a time. Last year, he or Marc would set a time, and his goal was to beat that time, and so many times, he did.
“I just want them to go out and lower their times,” Bowman said. “When they lower their times, you can just see them light up.”
Plasse, who also plays volleyball, is beginning her fourth season running for the Tigers.
“It has been so fun, especially my freshman year when I got to run all new courses,” she said. “I had never been to any of them before, so it’s super fun getting to run on new courses and stuff, and then as you get older, you have your favorite courses, and it’s fun getting to go back to those.”
She said Borden and Crawford County are her two favorites. The Tigers are running in the Borden Invitational this morning.
Plass said her goal this year is to keep all of her times under 25 minutes.
“Depending on courses and heat and stuff, it will be difficult, but I think it’s an achievable goal. My miles are usually around 8 minutes,” she said. “One of my favorite things about it is when you are crossing the finish line, every person that is there, every fan, is cheering for every runner that crosses that finish line, from the first person to the very last person, even if it is a 10-minute difference.”
She said she talks to runners who finish close to her about the race.
“It’s still competitive, but you get to build a lot of relationships. I think that’s really important,” she said.
Stainbrook said his best time last year was just over 20 minutes, and he wants to get into the teens this season.
“I want to have fun doing it, too,” he said. “I like to try and keep a stern pace throughout the whole race and speed up toward the end.”
He said his favorite course also is Borden because it’s flat.
Jim Kay is coaching the Trinity Lutheran runners and is working with three athletes.
Freshman Wyatt Love is the Cougars’ only boy runner, while there are two girls, Jocelyn Love and Cheyenne Campbell. Campbell also is playing volleyball.
This will be Jocelyn’s first year of running cross-country in high school. She attended Brownstown Central last school year and ran track but not cross-country. She said she ran cross-country while attending Immanuel Lutheran School.
“I’m just looking to improve my times,” she said. “I feel that it is a good sport. It gets you a good mindset. It really helps you focus and stuff like that.”
She said her best time for a 5K has been 26:40, and she’s hoping to beat that. She said she wants to run her first mile in the 8:30 to 8:45 range.
“At practice, we normally run around 3 miles. Sometimes we’ll run 4, and then when we finish we’ll do a warm-down. We’ll end with sprints, pushups, situps, stuff like that,” she said.
She said the Hauser course is her favorite.
“I like how you have flatter parts and hillier parts,” she said. “The more difficult courses are the ones that have the hills, so you have to push yourself more, but that makes you a better runner.”
Trinity opens its season Aug. 17 with a Hokum Karem with Hauser and then competes in the Southwestern (Shelby) Invitational on Aug. 21.