All 7 Boys Cross Country Athletes Run PRs at the State Meet!

Cross country is a sport that requires dedication, perseverance, and resilience. There are no timeouts, a chance to catch your breath, or take a water break—and at some point in the race, it's going to hurt. Cross country runners are the most mentally and physically tough athletes around. The boys cross country team demonstrated that toughness this past weekend at the state cross country meet in Peoria. Competing against the best of the best in 2A, each of our seven runners ran the fastest they have ever run a 3-mile race. It's incredibly rare for every runner to set a personal record (PR), but the boys were focused and ready to work—and it paid off. For the first time in many years, we had four runners run 17 minutes or faster, crushing the preseason goals they had set for themselves.

Nate Bemister and Drew Bemister each ran a phenomenal 40 seconds faster than their previous PRs. Luke Cudney, our top runner all season, shaved a whopping 36 seconds off his record time. Peyton Scholma ran 25 seconds faster than his personal best from just the week before, and Joel Fan was 23 seconds quicker than his all-time best. Showing incredible dedication and improvement over the season, Peter Azzinaro shaved an impressive 2 minutes and 12 seconds off his first 3-mile race time of the season, while Josh Kooy ran an outstanding 3 minutes and 18 seconds faster than his opening 3-mile race of the year.

In addition to the toughness required of the sport, cross country runners are known for being incredibly welcoming and kind. This is true of this special group. We had nine teammates join the varsity team Downstate, and they were some of the loudest and most encouraging cheerers on the course. It was awesome!

As coaches, we can't say enough about how proud we are of this group of young men. Congrats to freshmen Luke Cudney, Drew Bemister, and Peter Azzinaro; juniors Nate Bemister, Josh Kooy, and Peyton Scholma; and senior Joel Fan on an incredible season. We also would like to highlight our seniors Caleb Lindemulder, Noah Potoshnick, and AJ Rakers—mature and responsible young men who led by example, have servant hearts, are bold in their faith, and have helped us as coaches immensely over the season in managing a team of 30 runners. They will be greatly missed.