Cross country team primed for 2018 season, encouraged by strong group of seniors, as well as newcomers

Independent file photos
Members of the girls cross country team begin a race last season at the Glenrock Golf Club. The Herders will look to their four senior runners for experience this season as they strive to improve after a strong 2017 campaign.

By: 
Eddie Poe eddie@glenrockind.com

Following the 2A state meet in Sheridan last October, Herders cross country coach Chris Gray commended his runners for how they represented Glenrock and displayed an unwavering commitment to improving times throughout the course of the season.
Gray’s squad returns a quartet of seniors in 2018 - Yesi Hermosillo, Annelise Clark, Abby Nunez and Skyler Piasecki - who have each amassed a resume of experience and are expected to lead the charge for the Herders this fall.
“All four should provide great leadership for our younger runners this season,” Gray said.
For the men’s team, Piasecki will be the lone senior and recorded a personal best time of 20:11.7 at the Glen Legler Casper Invitational last September. He will look to aid the efforts of junior Andrew Albrandt, sophomores Wes McCullough and Tristin Tiensvold and a handful of incoming runners who have shown great promise during their time running for the middle school.
A few of those incoming names to keep an eye out for are James and John Halvorsen and Paxton Piasecki.
On the women’s side, Clark, Hermosillo and Nunez will look to build upon a strong 2017 campaign and will lead the way for Glenrock’s female runners. Clark earned All-State honors last season and placed seventh overall at the state meet with a time of 22:13.71, a personal best. The state meet also served as a harbor of personal bests for incoming sophomores Abby Cerny and Emma Cotton.
One of Gray’s objectives for the upcoming season is to utilize the experiences of underclassmen in a way that’ll help push the upperclassmen.
“We hope to have some newcomers to the program that will provide competition in practice and meets to push us to be better as the season progresses,” he said. “We’ve had some athletes run a lot over the summer and that should help us get off to a great start this season.”
Last year, the average improvement for the Herders was four minutes faster by the end of the season. That’s no easy accomplishment, especially in cross country.
Gray’s goals for this fall are to do much of the same, but on a larger scale.
“Our team goals this year are to have two runners, both male and female be named to the All-State team,” Gray said. “And as a team, to be in the top four for each at the state meet.”
At the middle school, the cross country team will begin its season on the first day of school, Aug. 20. Each runner is required to have a physical on file before he or she can practice that day. 

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