Men’s and Women’s XC Team
Smart Racing - that was the messaging of today’s race.  The men’s RP XC team competed in the first 5k of the season Tuesday.  Since the team is filled with several 1st year and a few 2nd year athletes the focus was to run a smart race, especially in the hot humid weather.  That is exactly what the team did.  Here are the numbers:
Klay Grant easily won the meet in 16:31, Jaxon Allen ran a 19:44, Blaze Van Noord ran a strong race which was 37s faster than last year and has more to give in future races. Freshman Daniel Dunn ran a very mature smart race with a time of 20:54.  Gavin Wierenga ran more than a minute faster than his time from last year.  Gage Bouwman ran a smart race as well with a 25:16.  Nate Darling had 13 second improvement from last year.  Nathan Reeves battled some shin issues to finish his first race in 28:13. Overall the men’s team took 9th place.  The poor team finish was due to several missing key athletes.  One key Freshman is Kye Grant.  He ran a strong 2 miles instead of the full 3.1 miles because he is returning from a track injury.  The team also was missing a solid Freshman by the name of Jamie Neel.  Sophomore Tate Bradly was missed today as well which will definitely bring about more success for the team.    No doubt this team will continue to get faster and faster as the season progresses.  Keep an eye on these Cross Country runners.