Over a month has passed since the school year started, and in that time, the cross country team has managed to perform extremely well during the first half of their regular season. This includes receiving high marks at their two latest meets at the Fort Zumwalt North Invitational on Sept. 5 and the Forest Park XC Festival on Sept. 12.

 Among the team’s best runners is junior Zach Painter, who performed well at both events. He placed fourth in the Fort Zumwalt race and 21st out of a field of 241 runners in the Forest Park race. Painter believes that he, along with the rest of his teammates, is excelling so far this season.

“Everyone on the team is doing pretty well, and I think that as long as we continue to perform like this, we’ll be able to keep up our momentum and keep going strong,” Painter said.

Painter is not the only varsity boys’ runner who has been placing well in these meets. Senior Nathan Limbaugh, junior Collin King, and senior Devin Hatten have also placed high. The Fort Zumwalt race saw Limbaugh place 11th, King place 13th, and Hatten place 15th. The Forest Park race, which Hatten did not compete in, had Limbaugh place 62nd and King place 72nd. King said that he was fairly proud of his accomplishments.

“I think I may have been a little slower on the first course than I would have liked, but I still think that I placed well. I really enjoyed the second one because it was a mostly flat course with only a few hills,” King said.

The team has also seen success outside of the varsity boys team. In the varsity girls’ race at Fort Zumwalt, senior Kristin Eslinger and juniors Megan Ryan and Lauren Coleman placed 12th, 14th, and 16th, respectively. In the Forest Park race, Coleman placed 37th, Eslinger placed 61st, and sophomore Molly Ebert placed 60th out of a field of 208 runners.

On the JV side of things, sophomores Garrett Allen and Noah Duckworth and freshman Cameron Schwab swept the Fort Zumwalt JV boys’ race by respectively taking first, fourth, and sixth place while junior Laura Mielke and senior Amy Warner placed 11th and 13th in the JV girls’ race. With so many promising runners, King is confident that the team will make it past districts.

“As an individual, I would love to go to sectionals or even state. I’m not sure if that will happen, but I am certain that at least some of the team will make it on to sectionals. We’re all hoping that will happen, and it would be great to make it there,” King said.