The Titan cross country teams tried to put their best feet forward against 26 other schools at the South Knox invitational on Saturday, September 20.
The boys’ team finished 8th overall, with junior Aidan Alston standing out with a fourth place individual finish at 16:34.8. Freshman Raylan Boop was closest to Alston, finishing 28th out of 223 runners. Sophomore Austin Carlile of Castle High School won the race with a time of 15:59. Barr-Reeve High School won the boys invitational with 56 points.
The girls team placed 3rd, placing behind invitational winner Northview High School and runner up Evansville Mater Dei. Out of 169 runners, three Lady Titans finished in the top 25: freshman Lucy Scherer in third place at 20:34, freshman Sophie Wright in 17th place at 21:50:40 and senior Molly Spindler in 23rd place at 22:28:80.
Many runners consider the South Knox course challenging due to numerous small hills, and near the three-kilometer mark is the “staircase,” a location where spectators gather as the runners make their ways up a steep incline.
“The hills made it a lot harder,” said sophomore cross country runner Zander Young.
Young was happy with his performance during the meet; he ran a 22:30, which was only one minute and 21 seconds slower than his all-time personal best run.
In addition to the hilly course, it was a warmer morning than previous races.
“The South Knox course is very challenging, and the temperature was warm for the high school races,” cross country coach Jeremy Aydt said. “Everyone raced in the same conditions and on the same course, so I don’t think it affected our overall performance.”
Cross country runners have been practicing daily to improve on their weaknesses observed at the South Knox meet.
“This is always a very competitive and quality meet,” Aydt said. “It helps prepare us for the competition we will see in the PAC, Sectional and Regional meets.”
Wilzbacher was not happy with his performance at the South Knox meet after finishing with a time of 18:37 and wished he had prepared better and worked harder. After the meet, the next week of practice for the cross country runners was filled with hard running workouts and long-distance runs, preparing them for the rest of the season.
“As a team, we need to practice harder and push each other,” Wilzbacher said.
