Cross Country 2020 Summary
Launch the media gallery 1 playerThe 2020 XC season started off on September 3rd in Concordia, on a warm Thursday afternoon. We had two athletes running on varsity at Concordia, Junior Sam Pinkerton and Senior Dylan DeWitt. Sam took 8th and Dylan took 31st. “Well, it was pretty hard, it had a bunch of hills and dips. It was also really hot and humid,” said Dylan.
On September 10, they headed to Stockton where they ran at Webster Lake. Once again, we had two runners participate in varsity, Sam Pinkerton and Dylan DeWitt. Sam took 5th with a time of 19:21.1 and Dylan took 33rd with a time of 24:02.4. “The Stockton course was very similar to Concordia’s, both weather and terrain.” said Sam. “What keeps me motivated? Mostly having someone in front of me. Someone to motivate me to run faster and do better."
"I have trained myself just to run through most pain and negative thoughts,” said Dylan.
On October 1, they headed out to Beloit. Only Sam participated, and he placed 5th with a PR time of 17:48.9! “I was kind of stunned. I mean this is what I worked for all year, to break 18 minutes, and to do that felt great!” said Sam. On October 8th, they had a home meet in Phillipsburg.
The Phillipsburg team as a whole did not quite make the top 5, although junior Sam Pinkerton took 6th with a time of 19:12.6.
Next, he traveled to Lakeside. Sam took 1st in his heat and 3rd overall with a time of 18:04! “Honestly, it was thrilling. It felt good to get 1st in my heat and 3rd overall. I think they could've done us all together though because I think my time would've been better because I would've had someone to chase,” said Sam.
Sam participated in Regionals on October 24 at Tribune and took 6th with a time of 18:28. “Last year I placed 18th on a course I knew and loved and now I'm on a strange course in colder weather,” said Sam.
Sam then headed to State on October 31 and got 7th place!
Freshman Gabriel Rudd also participated for part of the cross-country season. “The season was difficult in the beginning, but it slowly got easier. The matches were difficult due to all of the other really great runners, but I truly enjoyed it,” said Gabe.
To see the schedule and all scores go to Fall Scores.
Credits: Athletic.net
Article written by Ryan Prewo