Staring at the finish line, giving all you’ve got, praying you beat the competition. This is how GRC cross country feels as they prepare for the state meet Saturday at the Kentucky Horse Park.
GRC has made an excellent run this year, with the girls placing 4th and the boys 5th in the region meet.
The boys team in particular has had to face challenges this year and has overcome these challenges.
“We’ve had a lot of runners injured and two of your top runners being injured really just kind of throws a big wrench in the works,” said Liam Parido, a senior on the team. “We have goals to win region and be one of the best teams in the state and then you take two guys that are, you know, top 10 in the region and top 50 in the state and it’s hard on the morale.”
Even with two of their significant runners dealing with injury, the other members of the boys team have pulled their weight, stepping up to make the loss less jarring.
“I think we’ve stepped up where we needed to step up,” Parido said. “I think the bottom half of the top five is really just showing their grit and got after it this season.”
Parido has pushed through his injury and kept his mind on improvement. “I think considering I missed a month and a half of training, I’ve been racing decently well, and I’d like to get under 18 at least once before the season’s over.”
Aside from the adversity that they have had to face, the boys have been making strides to meet their goals.
They raced well this past weekend at regions, with our top four runners all placing in the top 25. Ty Balser finished 12th and Lennon Smith, 13th.
“I’m really proud of how the team performed at region,” Parido said. “Ty and Lennon left no gap. They raced together and performed really well.”
Smith has big aspirations going into state. “I’m like eight seconds off so I’ve really been pushing myself in the past couple of meets to try to get there so we’re going to try to get it this weekend at state,” he said. “I think we’ll perform really well. We’ll get top 20 as a team.”
The competition is tough and making the top 20 won’t be an easy task. “Everybody has to buy in as much as every other guy,” says Parido. “So if we don’t want it, we’re not going to get it. But I want it. I think the rest of the top five wants it. I can speak for them on that. Top 20 is definitely at stake.”
The girls team is led by Jadie Balser and Savannah Thomas with Balser finishing 18th overall at regions.
Coach Dodd Dixon said both teams are ranked around 21st heading into Saturday’s meet. The boys run at 3 p.m. and the girls at 3:45 p.m.
