The girls cross country team is looking forward to districts on Saturday after they did not meet their expectations at their conference meet last Thursday. The team is struggling because the time they spend practicing is not paying off in the meets.

Coach Michelle Breuer is frustrated because she knows the ability of the runners, but the girls are not performing as well as they should.

“The kids that are supposed to do well didn’t exceed my expectations,” Coach Breuer

said. “I would like to blame it on the break but Francis Howell and Francis Howell North did well so I can’t blame it on that.”

It has been a struggle for both the girls and boys cross country team this year to overcome the loss of the seniors. Sydney Voss and Josh McKinley were two of the top runners for the teams and without them, the teams have had to push themselves to the next level.

“This year, our talent is average, but improving. We are missing some of our front runners and Brittney [Kennedy] got hurt,” Coach Breuer said of the girls team. “Last year the team was small but there were two front runners that could disguise that.”

Not only has the team had to make adjustments from last year, they have also had to recover from the loss of their top runner, sophomore Brittney Kennedy. Some of the freshman have had to run varsity to fill Kennedy’s spot.

“It will be harder for the girls to make it past districts because I don’t know if the freshmen can drop a whole minute from their time. They aren’t practicing how they should race because they are still learning those skills,” Coach Breuer said.