On Oct. 9, the Westside Warriors competed in the Omaha Metro Meet, facing some of the strongest cross country programs in the area. For many runners, the meet served as more than just a midseason benchmark. It reflected months of work, rebuilding and development across a team adjusting to roster changes and finding new leadership.
Junior varsity runner Devin Neumann said he was encouraged by how the Warriors placed in the early stages of competition.
“I’d say at the start, our first Metro was really good,” Neumann said. “We had a lot of guys come pretty high up there, you know, top 10, quite a few.”
This fall’s progress traces back to the summer, when Westside’s runners face a demanding offseason. The program lost several key seniors from the previous year’s varsity lineup, five in total, according to Neumann, along with a few additional runners who stepped away. That turnover left younger athletes to fill gaps and adopt leadership roles earlier than expected.
Neumann said the energy of the season has been shaped less by results and more by the friendships forming across the team.
“We started to build up that community because we lost a lot of our seniors last year,” he said. “I would say that we’re building up a good community, and we’re starting to get that work ethic for our young core.”
The Warriors’ training included early morning runs, extended mileage, tempo pacing and hill sessions, workouts meant not just to increase speed, but to strengthen communication and help runners learn to pace off one another. Pack running has been a key strategic focus, allowing less-experienced runners to feel supported and confident during races.
Neumann believes the growth he’s seeing now is the early stage of something bigger.
“I think next year we have a really good team coming up,” he said. “We had a young, developing core this year, and it’s really going to surprise the state. I think it’s going to be a good season.”
While Neumann looks ahead, senior JV runner Juan Romero Sarraf reflects on a journey that did not follow a traditional path. Romero Sarraf did not run cross country as a freshman, joined during his sophomore year, missed his junior season due to injury and returned to the roster as a senior, motivated simply by the opportunity to race again.
“I think it was overall pretty good,” Romero Sarraf said of the season. “Some people on the team probably did not do as well as they wanted to, but I think overall as a team, we did pretty well.”
For him, returning to competition after injury was something meaningful in itself.
“I was happy to be able to compete once again after I was injured last year,” he said. “These competitions are beautiful because you get to meet new people. So it was worth it to compete again.”
Even with fewer total seasons than most seniors, Romero Sarraf said the program shaped him deeply.
“I didn’t do four years because my freshman year I didn’t know what cross country was yet,” he said. “I did my sophomore year, then junior year I got injured, and now my senior year. I think those were two good years where I got to meet new people, whether it was from our school or from another school.”
Together, Neumann and Romero Sarraf represent different points in the same story, a developing program built on effort, shared work and steady improvement. While results at Metro mattered, the larger focus this season has been establishing a culture that lasts.
For Westside cross country, the story is not confined to finish times, personal records or standings. It is measured in teammates showing up for each other during the longest training days, the toughest intervals and the slow jogs back to the parking lot after races. It is measured in how athletes learn to push and be pushed.
Neumann believes that foundation has been laid. Romero Sarraf believes it will last.
And the Warriors, especially the young runners, now move forward knowing what they are capable of building.
