Cross-country teams looking for top sectional finishes

They may get there by different paths, but there is at least one shared goal for both the Glencoe-Silver Lake girls’ and boys’ cross-country teams: a high finish at the Section 2A meet in late October.
How they get there might differ a bit, however.
While the girls’ team returns its lone state qualifier from last year in Malayh Metcalf, the boys’ team graduated its two state runners (Michael Meyer and Austin Schroepfer) last spring.
Boys’ head coach Jeff Delwiche said the boys’ team, which welcomes four new members will be a “pack running team” this fall.
“We may not have a top-10 runner in the section meet, but we will have a very good pack all together, pushing each other,” he said.
Captaining the boys is the senior trio of Tony Fischer, Zack Herout and Jakob Rusten.
Delwiche said that team goals are to place high in both the Wright County Conference West, as well as Section 2A.
While the Panthers won the section title in 2015, repeating that feat this season will be a daunting challenge.
“Our section is loaded with three of the top five teams in the state,” he said. “We are hoping for possibly an outside chance at squeezing into state with a very solid pack team.”
As for the girls’ team, seven new members make up a squad led by Metcalf – who finished 129th in her first state meet last year. Including Metcalf, seven members of last autumn’s team are returning in 2017.
Ellie Schmidt, who switched to cross-country from volleyball for her senior season, as well as Tarin Michaelis and Mariah Koester, captain this year’s squad.
Girls’ head coach Josh Metcalf said that great weather and hard work has led to practices that “have been going very well so far,” after the team put in a lot of running over the summer.
Coach Metcalf said that goals for his team include finishing in the upper half of all meets, as well as earning a top-eight finish in the section meet.
“We want to star healthy and run our best at the conference and section meets,” he said.
GSL will host the annual Caty Delwiche Invitational on Thursday, Sept. 21, at Stevens Seminary Stadium.