Before the rain thundered down Saturday afternoon, Aug. 30, the freshman cross country team stampeded their way to victory ending a winless drought for the team.
“I expected them all to run a good race.” freshman cross country coach Kristen Witt said. “I wanted them to use the things we had worked on in practice like using the downhill, running as a team, running smart and finishing strong.”
Matthew Dixon charges up a hill near the end of the 3k race.
The freshman team won the 3k (2.2 mile) race at the Randy Seagrist Invitational with an overall score of 38 beating all other teams in the freshman meet.
“We were successful because each of them ran smart,” Witt said “They all ran to their best potential and each of them charged up the hill at the end.”
The team is made up of 14 members; however, only 11 participated in the race on Saturday. Blake Selm, Kyle Andersen, Andrew Lofgren, Matthew Dixon, and Jack Morgan all scored for the team, while Austin Corteville and Nick Fuss placed sixth and seventh on the team respectively. All seven of them finished within three minutes of each other.
“We are very deep,” Witt said, “We have many talented runners who are willing to step up and push themselves. This group collectively is very serious about running they get out there and give it their all every day.”
Jack Morgan placed nineteenth, Matthew Dixon tenth, and Andrew Lofgren sixth, while Kyle Andersen took second place, being beat only by Blake Selm who won the meet with a time of 14:02. Selm and Andersen ran together for the majority of the race and only in the last hundred meters did Selm pull away Andersen.
“Having Kyle as a teammate helps me to keep running,” Selm said “Whenever I don’t feel like going on a run he makes me go on a run so I can improve and get better.”
Selm and Andersen, who ran together in middle school, know how beneficial it is to have teammates who compete and push each other.
Kyle Andersen and Blake Selm run together during the Randy Seagrist invitational.
“Having Blake as a teammate is really good because we are about the same pace,” Andersen said “So when we are running as a pack we can work off each other and push each other.”
“We have to close the gap between our top five runners if we want to continue to be successful,” Witt said “We have to run side-by-side with our teammates and not look back when we are on the home stretch.”
The freshman team’s next meet is the Stan Nelson invitational Saturday September 13.
“The one thing that is going to make this team successful is team work.” Witt said. “We have to run together as a team and continue to work together.”
Already the 2014 freshman team has done something they had not done since 2011: win a meet. The last time a freshman cross country team won a meet was when varsity captains Andrew Osborne, Matt Morgan, and Philip Aden were freshmen, current Head Coach Kevin John was still the freshman coach, and when the Missouri High School Athletics Association (MSHSAA) Hall-of-Famer Dale Shepard was head coach.
![Holding the disc, senior Nathan Thompson waits for an opportunity to pass to senior Timmy Fry. Parkway United’s ultimate frisbee team is made up of students from each of the four Parkway schools. “The one thing I really like about ultimate [frisbee] is the community because it’s so different from any other sport I've been a part of. [My] national teammates are people who we play against in the regular season, so we see each other all the time. It's always fun hanging out with [them],” Thompson said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/C96A6823-1200x800.jpg)
![Senior Josie Grunzinger watches the football game intently from the sidelines on Oct. 18. Grunzinger stood out to the crowd as the only girl on the football team, encouraging other girls who want to play football to take a chance and go for a sport outside of their comfort zone. “If you think you could [play football] and you want to do it, just try it, because all it takes is to actually try it out,” Grunzinger said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Untitled-design-1200x675.png)
![With her arms held high, junior Jenna Rickelman throws the ball across the pool during a girls water polo practice. With hours of practice after school and over the summer, Rickelman saw many improvements in her water polo skills. “When I look at [my] stats, I'm so much better than I was last year,” Rickelman said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Untitled-design-2-.png)
![Putting on his helmet, catcher and senior Tommy Eschbach prepares to get in his primary stance. Despite losing 6-1 against Eureka on April 16, Eschbach didn’t let the tough loss affect his playing or mental health. “It's [so] easy to get caught up in the sport and what you're doing that [after] one bad game or a stretch of games it is hard to remind yourself that your worth as a person isn't directly related to your performance on the field,” Eschbach said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/DSC_0415-1-1-1200x800.jpg)
![Sports organizations have changed lives on and off the field, improving athletes’ muscle strength, reducing their risk of diseases and building energetic work capacity worldwide. However, many student-athletes struggle to balance schoolwork and athletic commitments, hoping to seek more understanding and support from their teachers and coaches. “To lessen mental strain student-athletes [face] and create a healthier, more comfortable lifestyle, there shouldn’t be any homework. I'm already [at school] for eight hours and [homework] creates a bigger load for student-athletes in AP or honors classes,” track and field sprinter and sophomore Lucy Penton said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DSC_0095-1-e1713883278514-1200x847.jpg)
![At the Spring Pep Rally on March 8, boys varsity water poloist and junior Jack Brau stands with the boys water polo team. The group, hoping to include everyone — whether boy or girl, varsity or JV — cheered on the girls water polo team during the sports team runouts. “Even though we all play separate games and have different practices, we like to see ourselves as one big group who represent one water polo [team],” Brau said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/DSC_8810-1-1200x800.jpg)
![Looking for an open teammate, freshman Patrick May passes the ball across the court at the Nov. 28 game against Parkway Central. May started in the game against the Colts. ”Growing up, [my parents] always gave me a basketball, [and] we had a basketball hoop outside. I grew up playing [all the time], playing on the [driveway] and shooting hoops with my dad.” May said.](https://pwestpathfinder.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/image2-1-1200x801.jpg)
