2020 has been called a lot of things, but rarely have positive terms like "successful" been used. In the wake of losing great leadership and some varsity runners to graduation, it was unknown to many what was left in the tank. With a roster of 55 runners, one hope for this season would be depth, which would prove to be very useful at the end of the season. What was left unknown to all was whether there would even be a season or not. COVID restrictions and uncertainty over whether cross country is a contact sport or not left every team in the state wondering if we'd even get to the first meet. But after many thermometer readings, reminders to "spread out", and many other adjustments allowed us all to have a season.
For all schools, their schedules were in a constant state of flux. Which meets were cancelled? Which were open, but to limited numbers? Can we run in this county or that county? In the end, we had a full season with at least 6 new courses (Riverside, Wooster, Districts, State, Mentor, Oregon, and a completely new Gilmour course) which forced us to become comfortable with the uncomfortable. And who can forget the completely new home course for senior night?? So many things had to be changed, and we ALL showed the ability to change with the times, adapt with success, and not get caught up in the details.
Senior night, which early on looked like it would never happen, became one of our greatest triumphs. We changed courses at the last minute due to excessive water on the normal course, the weather broke and was PERFECT for race day as the runners headed out and back on the horse path - a much faster surface than grass. After having lost to Mentor's JV badly early in the season, the Jags came back with a dominating win and 28 PR's!
The varsity would continue the PR train, with two more PRs at districts, where the team finished 4th. Nobody in their right mind PRd at the Boardman regional, but the team finished 6th and headed to the inaugural running of the state meet at Fortress Obetz. Another two runners (Erin Hvizdos and Liz McGuire) PR'd at the state meet helping the team secure 14th!
When looking back, the 14th place finish is a remarkable feat. From 2019, the 1st, 2nd, and 5th runners all graduated, 3rd was injured, and only 4th and 6th were returning in 2020. That means 5 new runners comprised the 2020 team. This is why the depth of the team proved to be so important this year - not only were so many new runners needed to fill in the gaps, but another few were lost to injuries and other causes. Most teams would have thought qualifying to state would have been impossible under such circumstances, but that thought never crossed this team's mind.
Truly, 2020 was a success in every way for the cross country team...congratulations!
