MCHS’s cross country team qualified to IHSA Sectionals at Fox Lake bulldog athletic center last Saturday.
On Oct. 25 the girls and boys teams both placed sixth at the Fox Lake Regional earning their place in the Hoffman Estates Sectional this Saturday.

Going into the meet the boys team was seeded sixth and the girls team was seeded ninth.

“McHenry always races best at the end of the year,” senior cross country team captain Myles Wagner says. “I think the team has a good shot of making it out of the Regional. We’re just looking forward to competing there, since we’ve all been working together for a great amount of time.”

The cross country team has competed in 13 cross country meets since July leading up to Sectionals on Saturday, Nov. 1. The team has been meeting since June in preparation for Regionals and Sectionals.

“Most of the girls ran over the summer,” says junior cross country team captain Delaina Floden, “which really benefited our season. We also do a lot of our workouts and harder runs, in different groups at similar skill levels, which is also benefited us”

“We built this training system from a long time out,” adds head cross country coach Kevin Horst. “So this was week 21 of the season, it’s a 23 week training program. And the Regional meet is on the 21st week out of 23. So everything kind of builds towards the end of the season, the Regional, the Sectional and the State Finals.”

Some of the team’s achievements include a second place finish at the McHenry county meet, and a third place finish at the Fox Valley Conference meet. This was all rewarding for the team because of the hard work put into the weeks leading up to those meets.

“It’s the goal that we’ve had for a long time,” says Horst. “So when you achieve something that you’ve been working towards, there’s a sense of validation that the steps you took along the way were successful and you’re doing the right thing.”

Both the girls and boys teams are very excited with the success thus far, but they are not ready to slow down. Coach Horst is looking to be competitive at the Sectional meet as well as getting a few runners down to state.

“Our goal for the girls team is a positive, celebratory mindset,” says Horst, “we are there to attempt to run personal best times and run for the honor of McHenry as well as competing very well.”

“Top 10 is the goal for the boys team,” says Horst, “but 10th is reasonably close to top seven, which qualifies for state. It would take a miracle race, but miracles have happened before in the history of sports, so it’s not out of the realm to go for it.”

Coach Horst is looking for positive and competitive races out of the girls and boys. Furthermore Horst believes it may be possible to get the boys team to state. Although the odds may not favor the team, the hard work and bonds they’ve built together is remarkable.

“The team is just so much closer than it’s ever been,” says Wagner. “We often have dinners and we get together all the time. So we’re just all super close, and we’ve been working together since June so it’s just very inspiring.”

Both the girls and boys teams have grown very close which can be attributed to this season’s success.

“We always try to keep a team mindset when we go into everything,” says Floden, “especially with the Regional meet, making sure that we were thinking about each other and not about ourselves during that race, that really benefited that race and this year’s performances.”