Cub cross country team grows in 2022

Posted 11/8/22

In the inaugural year for sixth-grade cross country the Powell Middle School team saw 13 participants come out to help grow the team to 34 athletes overall in the fall.

Adding more competition …

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Cub cross country team grows in 2022

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In the inaugural year for sixth-grade cross country the Powell Middle School team saw 13 participants come out to help grow the team to 34 athletes overall in the fall.

Adding more competition allowed the Cubs to see this season as a fun challenge, helping push the team to strong finishes all year long.

“As a whole the runners progressively got stronger physically and mentally as they figured out that cross country can be a fun physical and mental challenge,” coach Marc McArthur said. “The eighth graders for both boys and girls were a great help in leading the athletes by example.”

Overall the girls team had a strong finish to the season at the conference meet in Powell, finishing third as a team.

Leading the way for the Cubs was Karee Cooley, who finished in the top three all season long and turned in a 12:18 2 mile as her fastest time of the year. Cooley finished third at the conference meet.

Following Cooley were three fellow eighth graders in Eleasah Horsley in 14th, Ava Gilliatt in 15th and Ashlee Jacobsen in 18th.

“I would have to say the eighth grade girls set the example to have fun with the workouts, fight through soreness and discouragement while persevering to the end,” McArthur said. “Meet after meet you could see their influence on the rest of the team.”

Seventh grader Macie Velasco was the fifth scorer in the conference meet and 19th place.

On the boys side Dylan DeBoer and Jose Villanueva were some of the most consistent runners as seventh graders, flip flopping first and second on the team throughout the season with similar best times of 13:12 (Villanueva) and 13:13 (DeBoer) respectively.

At the conference meet the boys were down another top runner in Alex Werner, and the boys finished in seventh overall.

DeBoer placed 17th, Villanueva placed 22nd and Benjamin Smith placed 27th as the top three runners for Powell.

McArthur said the boys battled injury and sickness throughout the season, and he was proud of how they finished off the season.

“Patience, understanding and not overlooking the basics and the hope to instill the love of running was the key to the team’s success,” McArthur said. “For 75% of the cross country team, this was their first experience with cross country or school-sponsored sport.”

The team of 34 will hope to continue growing into next year, with sixth graders getting a second year to grow with the team going forward.

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