Cross country team readies for final season stretch

The cross country season is mid-season for freshman and sophomore girls in Cedar Falls. On week eight, Cedar Falls is ranked number eight. This Oct. 16, the freshman and sophomore girls had a meet where they placed 1st.

Leah Jennings is the coach for the freshman and sophomore girls. She has been coaching for 13 years. This is her ninth in Cedar Falls. She coached for Cedar Falls seventh and eighth grades for one year. Before she coached in Cedar Falls, she coached in Waterloo at West High School for four years. 

Jennings said the girls are improving. “I think the girls’ performances are great. They are working hard, seeing times improve and getting more confident. “The track season is 12 weeks starting in early August and ending in early November,” she said “However, we have been training since June, not long after track season ended.” 

During the season they run against multiple teams. Jenning said, “We’ve had smaller meets with closer to 10 teams, and we  have competed at meets with 40 teams. A good average might be around 20 teams.” 

When the cross country team is running against a tough competitor, Jennings said, “We help our athletes to visualize their success based on their abilities. This involves looking at what they can do individually as well as together. The girls have worked incredibly hard and we remind them to be confident in themselves and trust that they are just as tough as the other teams” 

Freshman Zoey Berger ran cross country in fourth grade. She stopped for two years and then started again in seventh grade. She has gotten shin splints but not a severe injury from cross country. She said she trains “every day except Sundays.” 

A favorite memory of hers was “when our team ran to get ice cream for the end of the year, and the team accidentally left without me and my friend. We were supposed to walk back, but we got lost while we were freezing cold with shorts and a T-shirt on in the pouring rain, eating ice cream.” 

Berger said her best run ever was in Iowa City on Oct. 9 of this year. “I got 20:49 for a 5K, and that is now on my PR.”

On Oct. 9, Cedar Falls freshman and sophomore girls placed second. Braelyn Stoppel placed third with a time of 20:51.4. The varsity team placed third on that day. Sophomore Charlee Gall placed first with a time of 17:54.0.

Gall has been running since seventh grade, and she hasn’t had a long-term injury from cross country, even though the team runs six days a week. 

Gall said, “I go to the Kilo Gym to lift twice a week,” and she said she enjoys “hanging out with my friends and practices and meets. I really appreciate them all cheering while I race, and it makes it a lot more fun.”

The team is next in action on Oct. 22 at the state qualifying meet at Marshalltown Community College. Cedar Falls is going against Ankeny, Dubuque Hempstead, Fort Dodge, Waterloo East, Waukee, Marshalltown, Waukee Northwest, Waterloo West and Mason City.