The boys cross country team had a historic season placing seventh with 169 points at the state meet.
Many athletes stood out that warm afternoon that they raced. For the Warriors senior Jayden Wall placed 10th and junior Ryan Kugler placed 15th.
For Kugler he had an impressive season that only got better as the season progressed.
“It felt incredible, this season could not have gone better and it was a great way to cap it off,” Kugler said.
10th place finisher senior Jayden Wall knew he had to finish strong.
“My thoughts going on were that I had to make an impact and place because before that day we haven’t had anyone place since 2018. I had to go out with a bang,” Wall said.
Wall has ran out at Kearney country club three times and talked about the physical and mental battle.
“Well I’ve now run there three times and it just keeps getting hotter,” Wall said. “My sophomore year it was moderate then warm then this year it was hot. So if anything it makes it more of a cross country experience because you’re not only racings a mentally and physically hard course but you’re also battling the elements.”
Another runner from the cross country team junior Collin Newman talked about the mindset going into the race.
“I think after districts we needed to remember that the work wasn’t over,” Newman said. “Many of the runners went into state with the wrong mentality.”
Newman also explained how fellow junior Ryan Kugler did a good job setting the team mindset.
“Ryan Kugler did a great job setting the bar when he mentioned all the hard work we put into the past few years and now we gotta show it all at state,” Newman said.
Looking forward to next year, Kugler has high hopes.
“I’d like both me as an individual and Westside as a team to get top five next year. I think we can win metros,” Kugler said.
