Head coach Daniel Murray has both a good and a not so good situation this year on his C-G-D cross country team. While the Cowboys should be fairly competitive and make some noise, the Cowgirls need one more runner to join in so they have the minimum to field a full team.
“We’re looking for more girls to come out,” said Murray. “We don’t have enough for a complete team. However, we do return most of our runners from last year. The team bond is really strong in these first two weeks of practice.” As with most of the other coaches across the state, he said the key for his team is to stay healthy throughout the entire season. “We also must keep improving throughout the whole season,” he added.
On the Cowgirls team, returners include senior’s Raven Kinnetz and Natalie Kirstein. Kinnetz was 32nd in 22:25 at the 2A qualifier a year ago, with Kirstein crossing in just under 24 flat. They are joined by sophomore letterwinners Lauren Hansch and Makayla Pulido. Hansch posted a time of just over 29 minutes, while Makayla was at 23:51 for the next team finish behind Kinnetz at the qualifier.
The Cowboys return a contingent capable of taking the team up a notch or two this year and surprising a few other teams in the process. Senior Isaiah Nebbe returns the best qualifier time of 17:50 for 21st last year. If he can consistently clock in for a top 15 or higher finish, the team would have a solid lead runner. Kaeden Langfitt is the other returning senior, bringing back a 19:06 qualifier time. Junior Nick Carpenter went 21 flat a year ago, while a trio of sophomores all clocked in from 20:25 to 23:14. They are, in that order, Luke Brownell, Jackson Beisel and Alex Greving.
Murray and the team has Tessa Warnke and Nicole Lorenzo as student managers to help out where needed, and they appreciate all these two girls do. When it comes to his take on the respective conference pictures, he sees Iowa Falls-Alden, St. Edmond, Algona and Humboldt as the girls teams in contention in the NCC. For the boys, his picks for the top two are Humboldt and Webster City. “A goal for the Cowboys is to score under 150 points at the conference meet,” added Murray.
