The Owatonna Girls Cross Country team has been outstanding this year so far in their meets. At the last meet in Mankato, they took third place as a varsity team. They also took third place at the home meet.
The girls have faced a few challenges this year, mainly injuries that have been keeping girls off the course. They lost varsity runner Naomie Delarosa to a hip injury. Other girls have been running very well and have been putting in a lot of work as well as during the summer. Coach Dan Leer said, “We have a good, solid group of girls that did a lot of training over the summer, so they have competed since day one.”
If the team were to be ranked in Big 9, they would be sitting in second place only behind Northfield. The captains this year are Anna Cox, Carsyn Brady and Kiley Knudson. Senior captain Anna Cox said, “The season is going very well and we have a strong look going into Big 9 and sections.” The team is coming together and working hard to meet their goals. They hope to keep pushing and working hard going forward with the year.
Last year, the girls were three points away from going to state as a team, however two girls qualified to go as individuals. As the team keeps working hard, the hope is to make a state appearance as a team this year. Coach Leer said, “That kinda been the goal of ours this year. We hope to really challenge those teams at sections and maybe get a state meet bid.”
The team’s next meet is the Big 9 Meet taking place at Brooktree Golf Course in Owatonna at 3:25 p.m. Oct. 17.
