Timberwolves Open Cross Country Season

The South Central cross country runners had two meets to open the season.

The Timberwolves attended the Ellis meet last Thursday, in which Taryn Boydston was the top runner for the girls. She finished first with a time of 19:59.01. Chevelle Morton also ran and finished 13th with a time of 31:34.24.

In the boy’s race, Cayson Boydston was third with a time of 19:21.92, Braidyn Cox was seventh with a time of 20:34.50, Henry Brull was 18th with a time of 22:22.02 and Wyatt Dixson was 22nd with a time of 23:21.75.

Head coach Tori Selzer said the Ellis meet was a “tricky meet” because the team had a lot of new runners. But she said the runners did well for their first meet.

“We had one girl collapse with heat exhaustion and that took a big strain on the whole team, myself included as the coach,” Selzer said. “She was our main priority and the results took a back burner, as it should be.

“We are a very close knit team and I couldn’t have been more proud of them for their care and concern for her over their own race and time.”

She said that practice adjustments because of the hot temperatures have been fine, adding that the runners are flexible with the changes.

“It’s been hard and takes a while to get in shape when time is so limited,” Selzer said. “But they understand that. Everyone from each school is also dealing with the same heat conditions so we know we aren’t the only ones having to make adjustments. That helps lessen the frustration.”

The runners then attended a meet in Meade Saturday. Selzer said that the athletes competed well and she was pleased with how the runners improved their performances.

In the boy’s race, Denin Johnson was 10th with a time of 19:50.75, Dominic Macias was 16th with a time of 20:26.03, Parker Woodrum was 54th with a time of 26:59.44, Jacob Reed was 58th with a time of 29:26.44 and Gavin Martin was 65th with a time of 37:45.91.

For the girls, Sophia Hernandez was 23rd with a time of 26:41.83.

The Timberwolves will next attend the Pratt Skyline meet this Saturday. Selzer said it’s not the easiest course but not a tough one either.

“I can see them gaining confidence at this meet mentally as well as gaining a better understanding of pacing and running their own race,” she said.

Meanwhile, Selzer said, the runners intend to focus on hydration, effort and “believing the body achieves what the mind believes” during practice this week.

“Running is a such a mental sport — if you tell yourself you can, you will. If you tell yourself you can’t, you won’t,” Seizer said. “We are working on improving our mental toughness and fundamentals of running during the hard workouts this week, comparing ourselves to the person we were yesterday and being 1 percent better today instead of comparing to others.

“Running is a very humbling sport, it never feels easy. Sometimes you feel like you can go forever, other times you can barely go a mile.”