By Mandy Brooks
The Goddard High School Cross Country teams are finding themselves challenged with a startling lack of seniority. Young runners are being looked at to achieve more, push themselves harder, and be role models for the freshman this year and the underclassman to come.
"I think there’s going to be a lot of runners that find out they can do more than they ever expected," assistant coach Ms. Marylee Ramsay said.
Ms. Ramsay also said that she expects her runners to push themselves out of their comfort zones in order to grow as runners. The runners use goal setting in order to achieve the things that they wish to accomplish. Not only have they set individual goals, but they have set team goals as well.
"My goal for this season to go to state as a team," sophomore Austin Winder said.
By setting goals, the runners know what to work towards-along with what their coaches expect out of them.
With the lack of seniority, it is considered hard for the runners to have someone to look up to. Although senior Mackenzie May has run for four years in high school, he isn’t the only inspiration for these young runners.
"I look up to Kacey Duncan and Kendra Young because they’re really fast, really good, and have a lot of endurance," sophomore Alicia Dirks said.
"I looked up to Lincoln Lemon last year, because he always seemed to do well in Cross Country," Winder said.
Not only do the runners have these current and previous Cross Country stars to look up to, they can also look to Ms. Ramsay for encouragement and tips for success.
"I started coaching in 2000, so I’ve been coaching for 12 years," Ramsay said.
Head coach Mr. Mel Hussey is also in his second year as the returning coach for these runners. Ms. Ramsay has said that although the two coaches have had different personalities, the transition from coach to coach has been fairly easy due to the fact that they both have similar coaching styles.
