As Park’s girls cross country team approached the end of their season, they had competed in a meet Oct. 3 at Chaska where they placed fifth out of 13 teams.
Head coach Chris Nordstrom said the girls put in a good effort, even under recent circumstances.
“It’s a meet that is important because it’s also our section course, so there were definitely some good efforts,” Nordstrom said. “I know our kids are a little beat up and banged up because we didn’t have any meets last week so they battled through some warm weather on a windy day.”
Junior Nora Lindeman said Park did the best they could under the conditions.
“A lot of people didn’t do as well as they’d hoped for but there were also some people who had really good days,” Lindeman said. “It was a hot day on a hard course and we stayed really positive even when the wheels were falling off.”
Junior Anna Healey said the team is heavily preparing for the important meets ahead.
“We’ve been preparing for sections with workouts and hard drills, and we’re hoping that some people on the team can go to state this year,” Healey said. “I’m looking forward to the competitive season in October as we get an opportunity to prove ourselves in sections.”
According to Nordstrom, their biggest challenge right now is mental, not physical.
“The most important thing is staying mentally engaged for us, There’s parts of the race that it’s pretty quiet and there’s not a lot of fans,” Nordstrom said. “With this being our section course, we have to make sure everyone can lock in the whole race.”
Lindeman said she’s excited for future meets and bonding with the team.
“Team bonding is always a great time to get to know some other teammates I don’t always talk to,” Lindeman said. “But I’m most looking forward to when the weather starts getting cooler, and the courses in the next few meets”.
Nordstrom said he’s optimistic about the team’s future this season.
“I’m proud of a lot of younger kids, they took big steps forward and we had some PRs from the newer runners,” Nordstrom said. “It’s a super fun group of kids and the culture is really good, so right now the kids are working hard trying to put everything together until the end of the season.”
Girls Cross Country’s next meet is 3:15 p.m. Oct. 11 hosted by Mankato East at Benson Park.
