Their season may not officially begin until August, but that doesn’t hinder members of the Lucas Cross Country team from running miles upon miles during the hot summer months.
“It’s cool how like after school ends, the season already kind of starts because we do training over the summer,” said junior Connor Pollard.
Since June, the soles of the Lucas runners’ shoes have experienced some wear and tear from the long distances they traversed. “They understand from years past that to keep up they need to run over the summer,” Coach Jen Wood said.
Wood noted that six runners ran at least 100 miles during the months of June and July. She added, “Four of my top five boys either ran two or three hundred miles this summer.”
As part of their training, team members participated in the fourth annual BW5K in June. The BW5K featured something new this year—the high school challenge—which invited Richland County students and staff members to compete for a chance to win $1,000 for their school’s athletic program. Each team had to be comprised of 10 students or staff members from an area high school.
Those who represented the Lucas Cubs in the race were Kane Kent, Gavin Shindeldecker, Wyatt Alt, Connor Pollard, Trey Lehnhart, Isaac Boroff, Nic Switzer, Alex Switzer, Kyle Shindeldecker, Kyle Kent (father of Kane Kent), and Crystal Roseberry.
Wood explained that one of the cross country parents encouraged her to form a team. “I sent information out at the end of the school year and I started telling the kids that I think we can win this. We just need to get 10 people to run…And sure enough, we pulled together 10 runners, we went and ran the race and won.”
“I didn’t know whether we’d win it or not, because it said all of the [local] schools were invited, sophomore Nic Switzer said.
“But Miss Wood said we ran it to win it,” said sophomore Kane Kent.
“I was so happy for them,” Wood commented. “I think they’re excited to go back next year and defend the title that they won the first year, and if they run the way that I’m anticipating they run this season, then I think they’ll be tough to beat next year at the challenge.”
Eric Teague, athletic director, said he was excited upon receiving the news that the Lucas runners won the challenge. “I think that anytime a school of our size can represent the community in something like that is a good thing,” he said. “That shows that the kids have been working hard and I think Coach Wood has done a great job in developing the program. Getting that number of students to participate says a lot also.”
Wood said that the money earned from the high school challenge will go towards the entry fee for next year’s BW5K race. “We’d like to keep competing in that race,” she said. She said the money will also be used for their Cub Classic Invitational and will go towards the purchase of a feather flag that has the Lucas Cubs Cross Country logo written on it to be used at meets to mark their territory. The remaining balance will be used to purchase the runners new shoes from Road Runner Sports, she said.
The team hopes to see more wins in the future, especially at the conference championship meet near the end of the season. Last year, the varsity boys team was named champions of the Mid-Buckeye Conference, their first conference championship in school history.
“I’d like to see the boys win the conference again, and I think it could happen because I feel that they’re becoming stronger runners,” Wood said. She added, “They’re also a tight-knit group and are competitive with one another, so that makes my job easier.”
Although the team lost its top runner, Kyle Shindeldecker, from last year, Wood noted, “The first day of practice we went up to the track and we got our mile times and four of my top five boys ran 5-5:30 minute miles, so I was pretty happy with that.”
Pollard also anticipates a promising season. “We’ve got a bunch of runners on our team getting close to the 18 minute range, and if you have four or five guys in the 18 minute range, that can win a meet.”
One of the obstacles faced by the Lucas Cross Country program has been the lack of numbers. Wood experienced this challenge when she first took over the program. “When I started five years ago, I had two runners: one freshman and one seventh grader.” By the end of that first season, however, the number of runners totaled to 12.
And since then, the team has grown to 21 runners this year, between the middle school and high school.
Wood said that she has yet to have a varsity girls team. Crystal Roseberry, Erika Smith, and Bri Cooper are the trio of female varsity runners this year. “I’d like for all of the girls to come into the season better than where they left off last season,” Wood said. “I want them to get better and support them in whatever their individual goals are.”
This year marks the first season for there to be a middle school girls team. “I’m really excited about that,” she said. And while the middle school boys are one runner shy of having a team, Wood said, “All four of them should be decent runners.”
She highlighted eight grader Gavin Shindeldecker and said, “I look for him to get a lot of first places finishes in the meets…I think last year he didn’t finish less than maybe third or fourth place. He seemed to be in top five consistently.”
The Lucas Cubs will compete in their first meet of the season on Monday, Aug. 18 at the Northmor Invitational.
