In the first meet of the year, we faced conditions that aren't ideal for running cross country. The course was extremely muddy with puddles and other hazards along the trail. It was raining and the ground had been saturated throughout the night. In spite of these conditions, the NCS cougars liked the challenge and came out of the gates running very hard. We had 4 boys running in the JV division. Sean Palizza led the Northland charge with a smoldering time of 13:08 , which was good enough for 8 th place. Jordan Franklin followed with a time of 13:32 (14 th ). Zach Wiebe finished with a time of 17:48 (45 th ) and Justin Franklin with a time of 18:32 (47 th ). In the girls JV division, which involved 29 girls, newcomer Baylee Pender came in 12 th place with a time of 16:42 . Caroline Cubberly (the only returning runner from last year's team) finished 19 th with a time of 19:43 .

In the 2nd meet of the season, the NCS cross country team took a group of 7 to John Cooper. All six boys ran in the JV division. Sean Palizza finished 18th with a time of 13:41. Right behind him with a time of 14:03 came Jordan Franklin (24th), Taylor Chitty (14:07 , 26th) and Andrew Stone (14:28 , 27th). Zach Wiebe finished strong with a time of 18:03 and Justin Franklin finished with a time of 21:05. In the JV girls division, Ashley Mozey ran in her first ever cross country meet. She ran extremely hard and came in with a time of 18:37 . John Cooper has one of the more difficult courses that we run in all year and I was very proud of the team's effort.

It was a beautiful morning with ideal conditions at Houston Christian. Sean Palizza ran in the first varsity race of the year. He finished 61st out of a division of about 90 runners with a time of 21:22. He did a great job and finished strong. In the JV boys division, NCS placed 7 th in the team standings. Jordan Franklin finished with a time of 13:34 (14th), Taylor Chitty ( 14:28, 27th), Andrew Stone (14:41, 31st), Zach Wiebe (18:07, 64th), and Justin Franklin (71st). For the first time in years, Northland had enough girls to run in the varsity division as a team. In her first race back after having torn her ACL, Bryn Snyder came in first for the cougars (29 th overall) with a time of 15:35 . Bailey Coe was close behind (16:09 , 39th), followed by Lousiana transfer Maddie Buchert (17:05, 48th), Caroline Cubberly (19:27, 56th) and Bailee Pender (19:43, 57th). I'm very excited as we have 2 more meets before State in Waco. This young team is improving every week.

Following the best week of practice we've had all year, this talented group of runners showed out at the meet this Saturday at Burroughs Park. In the JV girls division, Ashley Mozey came in 1 st place with a time of 17:17. This time was 1:20 faster than her previous best. Bailee Pender finished right behind in 2 nd place with a time of 17:32, knocking more than 2 minutes of her time from last weeks race. Nice job ladies! In the JV boys division, Zach Wiebe finished strong with a time of 16:54, almost a minute faster than his best time all year. Justin Franklin finished with a time of 19:53, almost 2 minutes faster than last week. For the first time in years, NCS had 5 boys run in the varsity division (3 miles). It takes at least 5 runners to make a team so I was extremely excited about the results today. For most of these guys, it was their first time to run 3 miles in a meet and they all did great. Ricky Mozey led the charge with a time of 19:23, followed by Jordan Franklin (2 steps behind) with a time of 19:24. Sean Palizza was next with a time of 20:59 , beating his personal best by 23 seconds. Taylor Chitty finished with a great kick and a time of 22:21 and Andrew Stone was close behind with a time of 22:35. I'm looking forward to the District meet this Friday and State the following week. We're peaking at the right time. The entire team ran great today. My thanks to all the parents and their support today and Mrs. Dort for coming out to take pictures of the team.

Northland had 4 girls running in the Varsity division in the district meet at Houston Christian. Bryn Snyder, in possibly her last race as a cougar, finished in 9 th place with a time of 15:43. Sophomores Bailee Pender, Ashley Mozey and Caroline Cubberly came in back to back to back. Bailee finished in 15th place (18:00), Ashley 16 th ( 18:16 ), and Caroline 17th (18:20). The boys team, led by Jordan and Ricky, came in 3 rd place overall. Jordan finished in 10 th place with a time of 20:56 ; Ricky was right behind with a time of 21:04 (11th). Sean, Andrew and Taylor all finished strong and together. Sean came in at 22:30 (16th), Andrew at 22:38 (17th) and Taylor at 22:41 (18th). I was very proud of 2 freshmen, that for the first time, competed at the varsity level and the distance of 3 miles. Zach Wiebe and Justin Franklin made us all proud as they crossed the finish line. Zach's time was 28:22 (23rd) and Justin's time was 33:51 (24th). This is our last week of practice before the State meet at Waco. I know we're going to be ready.