Cross Country: St. George’s hopes to continue success
Consider the 2007 St. George’s boys and girls cross-country teams as particularly perceptive students of history. History, in this case, being a tradition of running excellence at the North Side school.
The Dragon boys finished first at the state 1B/2B championship meet last season and the girls were second, but that only begins to describe the story told by a look at the St. George’s trophy case, which now holds five state title awards for the girls and two for the boys.
Josh Hayes, in his fourth year as head coach at St. George’s, doesn’t kid himself about his good fortune.
“I think I was lucky to inherit a program that had some great teams in the past,” he said. “When I came in, the guys were in a dry spell, but the girls team never really hit a slump. We’ve got a small team this year, only about 20 runners total, but the bonds the kids all have really draws them together.”
The boys finished second to Reardan in 2005 and reversed that finish last season, largely due to a group of guys who trained and improved together from their arrival as ninth-graders at St. George’s.
“At first, to tell you the truth,” said Hayes, “they weren’t very good, but by the midpoint of that first season, they figured out that they could be. We went on to get fourth at state that year, and what the guys learned from that was how good they could be if they continued to train and improve.”
This season, the Dragons return six of their top seven runners from last season, losing only Hal Halvorson, whom Hayes remembers as an inspiration for the younger runners.
Four of St. George’s top six are seniors now, led by Brian Angove, who finished fourth in the individual race last season and third in 2005.
Seniors Davey Coombs and Mike Wilhelm were in the top 14 at state, while juniors Sam Annan and Britton Stamper finished in the top 30.
Angove remembers his first trip to the state meet as inspirational, a lesson in what the team could accomplish. He also remembers the 2005 race with some melancholy.
“That was a tough second place,” he said. “I think we all had higher hopes, but we got too cocky. It was a good reality check for us – it made us all more aware that we needed to work harder. There’s always the extra mile, the little something extra that will make you better and faster. It’s always something you don’t really want to do, but you need to do if you’re going to be the best.”
Maja Rodell, who placed seventh last season at the state meet, is the only senior on the girls team, and she’s just what a coach looks for in a leader.
“A lot of the credit for last year’s success has to go to Maja,” Hayes said. “She keeps the legacy of the previous teams alive.”
“The runners from my past years were really inspirational to me,” Rodell said, “and I want to do that for the younger runners now. My focus this year is on building a strong team. I’m really excited about our prospects even though we’re young. We have a solid pack of girls who are really close and motivated.
“Lots of people view cross-country as an individual sport, but it really isn’t. It’s always easier to race with your team and for your team. The other day, nobody was feeling that great and we were talking about what it means to be an athlete and especially a female athlete in a world of limited opportunities. We ended up realizing how grateful we are for the opportunities we have here.”
The boys and girls teams train together, by levels and not by gender, Hayes said. The top two girls train with the boys, and their coach credits their improvement to that competitive attitude.
“Brian and Maja are great ambassadors for the program,” he said. “I’m absolutely comfortable having them help run practice or prepare race strategy. We’re driving pretty hard to be No. 1.”