The boys cross country team competed yesterday in the Nike Fleet Feet kickoff race at Quail Ridge Park in Wentzville. As a team, they took eighth out of 17 teams overall. Junior P.J Brown, who placed 22nd out of 109 racers competing, said that while the team did good, more work needs to be done.

“We performed well, and we worked hard,” Brown said. “But we have to work even harder, by doing workouts that involve adjusting our split times.”

Senior Michael Vanhorn, who finished 34th out of 109, said that it was just a practice meet, but still should be taken seriously.

“It was a practice meet, and we only ran two miles, but regardless, we could have performed better,” Vanhorn proclaimed.

He also said that normally there are seven varsity runners, but they bumped three more from the junior varsity and moved them up for this meet to see how they perform.

“The meet was a great chance to test out the younger runners who never ran for varsity before,” Vanhorn said. “There were some good teams there, but once again, it was only a practice meet,” he added. “Once the actual meets begin, the competition gets interesting.”

Quail Ridge Park, according to Vanhorn, is a very bumpy course, and with the lack of rain, the course becomes drier.

“The course will do a number on your ankles, especially with the dry ground, it’s pretty rough” Vanhorn explained. Both Brown and Vanhorn know that they could have performed better, and Vanhorn said there are many things they will do at practice to become better.

“One thing we should work on at practice is harder speed workouts, and after practice and meets, always make sure that you ice your ankles if they are starting to hurt,” Vanhorn said. The cross country team’s next meet is this Friday at McNair Park.