The cross country team, although it is small, has worked incredibly hard to do well this year. “We attended eight meets this year, and I was very pleased with the progress we made. At conference, we ended up in fourth place. We were a couple points away from third place, which was great for us,” Coach Scott Anderson said. The cross country coaches are working hard to build a larger and more experienced team. “We have a very young team. They were dedicated, determined, and each day of practice they wanted to get better,” Anderson said. Overall, Coach Anderson is proud of the team for the progress they’ve made. “Some of the high points for us- we had two all conference runners, and that means a lot to our young program. received the academic achievement award, as well,” Anderson said.
Although at the beginning the cross country team struggled, they eventually overcame their challenges. “In the beginning, all of us were struggling for some reason, and it was just bad because we were practicing harder than we were last year, and we weren’t getting better,” sophomore Phoenix McClaine said. The team saw improvements throughout the year. “It was off to a slow start, but just staying consistent paid off in the end,” McClaine said.
The 2023 season for softball was a teambuilding year, though the softball players built momentum as the season went on. “A high point would be when we had a batfest here during school hours, and then the girls kind of bought in. They turned it around and started playing hard, and they started putting we before me.” Coach D’Antae Mitchell said. A challenge the team faced at the beginning of the year was believing in themselves, “A big struggle was confidence in the beginning. I know they wanted to play hard and do the best they could, but they just were not as confident as we needed to be.” Mitchell said. Throughout the year, the team worked on connecting as well as confidence, “The season was good, but there were a few rough patches. We worked on bonding together more though,” freshman Savannah Martinez said.
Volleyball got a new coach this year, and they worked very hard on all of their wins. “Our loss to Crossings Christian was close, and we played at a very high level. Our revenge win was over NW Classen at the Shawnee tournament since we lost to them earlier in the season,“ Coach Donald Wood said. This season was a year focused on learning to work together for volleyball, “We had a new coach every year, and five coaches in four years. So, it was hard to try to stick with one, but I think the girls created strong friendships. We just made it fun even if it was really difficult and even if there was lots of drama among the underclassmen,” senior Shianne Grassmann said.
