Sweeping the Oct. 11 meet at Willmore Park, the girls cross country won on the varsity, JV and freshmen teams.
“We actually went out to the course on Friday evening to preview it. It was raining and muddy but learning the lay of the land was important to success,” Coach Charlie Cutelli said.
Sophomore Natalie Rath placed first in the varsity race with a time of 19:40.
“It was a pretty flat course but there were still some gradual hills. My time was my personal record (PR) and it was faster than my previous PR from Forest Park (19:42) which was a really flat course, so it was an accomplishment for me,“ Rath said.
Sophomore Maggie Hulen placed first in the JV race with a time of 22:13.
“I thought the course was easier than in the past because there were less hills,“ Hulen said.
Freshman Betsy Wait place first in the freshman race with a time of 22:48.
“The meet was smaller than some other races. It was really muddy that day, but we ran right through the mud,“ Wait said.
The team has been in the top five finishers in every meet.
“Years ago we struggled to place in the top three or four in many of our meets. The team really rallied around our success the past couple of years. Winning meets and being one of the top teams in St. Louis was what they expect of themselves,” Cutelli said.
The team encourages each other to do their best while at a meet.
“We’re all really supportive and push each other to do out best no matter what level,every person passed counts. The place you get is the number of points your team earn. They generally score the top five from each team. You want your team to have the least number of points to win,” sophomore Maggie Morse said.
Conference is followed by districts, sectionals and then state.
“Hopefully this success will carry over into the district, sectional and state meet,” Cutelli said.
The district meet will be held at Parkway Central on Saturday, Oct. 25.
![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)
