Saturday, October 25 the cross country team raced at the Division 1 Muskego Sectional at Lake Denoon Middle School. Overall, the boys team placed 12^th and the girls placed 10^th.

When the Vikings stepped off the bus into the nice October weather, there was music blaring and a general good feeling was in the air. The boys started out the meet, running at 11:00 a.m. Andrew Munger ran his last race as a senior and finished with a time of 18:58.03.

When reflecting on his overall cross country experience, Munger said, “Cross Country is something that I’ve grown to love and I’ve enjoyed spending time with everyone on the team these past four years.”

Other times for the boys included Collin Staudt with 19:37.74, Henry Adkison with 20:24.27, Tim Becker with 20:27.64, and Nick Piotrowski with 23:46.15.

The gun went off for the girls’ race at 11:45 a.m. The first runner who came in for the Vikings was Sarah Meleski, with a time of 20:25.50. Other girls’ times were Allie Maniscalco with 21:07.12, Katey Devine with 21:28.02, Christa Modrow with 21:42.19, Emma Karshna with 22:59.80, Abby Patterson with 26:38.21, and Liz Liska, who ran for injured senior Madeline Egan, with a time of 28:29.62.

Captain Egan recapped the girls’ season, “The girls truly had a season to be proud of. Every team has their rough meets, and it was unfortunate that we had to have ours at sectionals. But, we learn from this experience and use it to further build our mental toughness. Next year, the team is going to do phenomenal things, and I can’t wait to see the girls far exceed their goals.”

Overall, both the runners and the coaches weren’t content with the results.

First year coach for the Vikings, Bryn Saunders, stated, “It was a tough meet, but everyone ran to the best of their abilities. There was a lot of great competition out there and we really felt the pressure. But at the end of the day we started and finished as a team. As a coach, you can’t be disappointed when you walk to the finish and your team is all together, picking each other up.”

Other teams who competed in this sectional meet were Arrowhead, Hamilton, Hartford Union, Kettle Moraine, Mukwonago, Muskego, Oconomowoc, Waterford, Waukesha North, Waukesha South and Waukesha West. On the boys’ side, both Arrowhead and Muskego advanced. For the girls, Waukesha West and Arrowhead will run at the state meet.

The Vikings are already looking ahead to next year’s season. Second year head coach Jim Braun stated, “I think that as a whole, we could improve our mental toughness. Even though it’s Division 1, we belong there, it’ll take some time for people to buy into it.”