Senior Jayden Wall is heading into his final season of cross country and is planning to leave it all out on the course. 

Wall is among the top runners in Class A, after he finished in 14th place at the State Championships last year in Kearney with a time of 16:44.11. The senior has big goals for himself and the Warriors this season.  

“For our first meet I want to place in the top five, that’d be great. For the team we’d like to be district champs,” Wall said.  

With this being his last cross country season, some may think there would be some nerves for Wall, but that is furthest from the truth.  Wall is focused on what he can control this season, which is his performance in the meets.

“Not really any nerves, it’s been pretty calm so far,” Wall said. 

Throughout his four years on the team, Wall has learned to lead by example. Head coach Theresa Gosnell has watched his growth as a leader on the team.

“Jayden is a very strong role model by his work ethic and consistency to the other runners on the team,” Gosnell said.

Wall has progressed throughout his high school career consistently, gradually improving physically and mentally with each year. Wall has lowered his personal records each season with times of 18:05.6, 17:12.4, and 16:44.2 in his freshman, sophomore, and junior year respectively.  With this history of consistent growth and improvement, Wall is set to have a successful senior season and build on Westside’s tenth place finish at the state meet last year.

Wall and the Warriors will open the season at the “Class of the Metro” meet at Walnut Creek Park on Saturday, Aug. 26.