Hastings High’s Cross Country team finished off their season by competing at state last Friday. Hastings competed alongside 11 other teams at the Kearney Country Club.
The girls’ team placed fifth, while the boys finished in ninth place. Chelsey Espinosa, Becky Plugge, and Jayden Welsh all medaled individually.
This has been a record-setting season for the cross country team. The boy’s team finished first at three meets, including their conference, as well as their districts. The girl’s team finished the season with seven first-place trophies.
“In some ways, the outcome of this season is because of the hard work of runners before them. As much as anything, it’s an ongoing revolving challenge for our young student-athletes to have such an impact on the future teams,” coach Scott Rosno said.
Isaiah Brant, a senior, has run cross country all four years in high school as well as in middle school, and he is sad to say goodbye to the 3.1-mile trek.
“I’m going to miss this group of guys more than anything because we have all ran together since middle school. We have been through a lot of ups and downs together, but no matter what happens when we run, we are all a family,” Brant said.
How well the athletes ran at state and at other tournaments was proof of the offseason work they put in and how they practiced.
“These kids have committed to putting in the extra mileage on days when others would choose to have the day off. I know it makes for a long season but that’s also why its a deeper, rewarding season,” Rosno said.
Every meet and practice leads up to districts and then state which can be a lot of pressure. In the end, the extra work the runners put forth definitely showed in their performance at state.
“We’ve been training and working towards state all year so it’s really rewarding knowing that we ran as well as we could have,” Jessie Nguyen, sophomore and first alternate at state, said.
Over the course of the season, the team pulled together and supported one another no matter how they ran. One of the factors that led to the team’s good season was how supportive they were of each other.
“I felt like I had more support from my teammates than ever before, and I knew that we all had each other backs. I couldn’t ask for better teammates and I feel like that was a common theme throughout this season,” Brant said.
It’s easy to get caught up in your own individual scores but it’s important to remember that when you run, you are running for a team.
“This season has been about giving of ourselves to our teammates and I think that’s also why it’s been so easy to be successful this season because it’s not about ourselves, it’s about each other,” Rosno said.
