T-R PHOTO BY ANDREW ABADIE - The Marshalltown girls’ cross country team brings back more than its entire starting lineup from a year ago. Pictured are, front row: (from left) Hannah Seltman, Tarryn Bell, Phoebe Hermanson, Aida Almanza, Rachel Smith, Priscila Vergara and Jade Tejada; back row: Verronica Herrera, Sidney Hotchkiss, Avygail Smith, Maggie Augustine, Kaci Uhde, Mia Barajas, Odaly Flores, Mary Kate Gruening, Taylor Hoffman and Chloe Macbeth.

The Marshalltown girls’ cross country team returns much experience from its 2019 campaign.

The Bobcats return their entire top-7 runners from a season ago that averaged a time of 24:23 [5k] in their seventh-place finish in the district meet.

“We have got a nice group of seniors with some kids who have experience,” head coach Stacy O’hare said. “Jade Tejada, Aida Almanza, are both seniors and Mia Barajas is a senior but she is injured right now so hopefully she’ll be back and doesn’t miss the entire season. [Senior] Kaci Uhde is back for us that ran varsity and we have a couple of younger kids with [junior] Odaly Flores and [junior] Makenna Ainsworth. So, we actually have a lot of experience with running varsity and it’s a good mix of kids that can compete against each other so it kind of keeps practice a little bit more competitive.”

The key returner for the MHS is sophomore Phoebe Hermanson who qualified for the state meet last season with a time of 20:12.

“[Hermanson] had a great freshman year and I think she kind of exceeded a lot of expectations as far as I didn’t really know what she was going to do,” O’Hare said. “I think she is coming into this year excited to improve and continue where she left off. I don’t really see any slumps in her. I think the best thing about her is that she is extremely competitive. There is never a day where I have to worry about her giving her best effort she goes out and runs hard. I think she is going to be just fine this year.”

At state, Hermanson finished in 58th place out of 125 runners where she ran 20:14. Hermanson goal for this season is to not only req-ualify for state, but to break 20 minutes and place higher in the state meet. According to Hermanson, she now feels in better shape than this time last year and credits track season with helping her training.

“I’ve been working really hard this summer and I have really big goals,” Hermanson said “I’ve really pushed myself this summer with long runs and tempo runs whereas last year I was mostly just running miles. I think having a track season and a whole year under my belt kind of helped.”

For the rest of her team, Tejada was No. 2 on the team with a personal best of 22:27 while ran a PB of 23:03. Rounding out the top-5 for the Bobcats last season was Barajas with a time of 23:09 and junior Mary Kate Gruening with a time of 23:23.

“I think I’m a little bit more excited for this year because I’m trying to get the kids to look at as a team sport rather than an individual sport,” O’Hare said. “It’s something in the past that hasn’t really been there but I think I’m pushing them a little bit hard in the sense of competing as a team. We don’t want a team that comes in last. We want to be the team that people are talking about so it’s going to start with those top five runners. Thursday is going to be a big test for us to see where we are at and give me an idea with where to go from there.”

MHS Boys Cross Country

The MHS boys’ country team enters the 2019 season with what the team considers to be a time of opportunity. The Bobcats only return three of their top-7 runners from a season ago from a young team that averaged 18:27.

“We are inexperienced,” head coach Chad Pietig said. “I think that the keyword for these guys is opportunity. There are only three guys returning with varsity experience so there is an opportunity for a lot of guys to step up and earn a varsity spot.”

The three runners returning from last season’s top-7 that finished in sixth place at the district meet are juniors Freddy Ross, Noah Hermanson and sophomore Conner Smith.

Smith, who was the Bobcats No. 3 runner, now returns as the team’s top runner. Smith’s ran a personal best last season of 17:59 and has not slowed down in training since, which has Pietig having a higher expectation for Smith.

“He’s starting running in February and hasn’t stopped. He has done tremendous work,” Pietig said. “[I’m] really excited to see what he’ll do this week because he probably put in close to 300 miles this summer after having a full track season. He’s done a lot of work and he is really ready to go. He’s a runners’ runner this is what he has waited for. He was just over 18 minutes in districts as a freshman.”

For Smith, the extra training stems to having the goal of qualifying for the state meet but to hopefully have some of his teammates with him.

“I just wanted to get better and be the best runner I can be this season,” Smith said. “We all just want to get better. I want to make it to state this year. [The goal for] our team is to get better and maybe have some people go to state with me.”

For the rest of the returners, Hermanson ran a personal best of 18:44 while Ross ran an 18:29. However, junior Ethan Benscoter, who ran a PB of 19:54 found himself on the fringe of the top-7 will have a bigger role with this season’s team.

“Freddy Ross has earned two varsity letters in the past,” Pietig said. “He is our other guy that is returning with racing experience. Ethan Benscoter was our No. 7, No. 8. He kind of always would work his way into a spot. He was always on that bubble. Right now, he is looking really strong and probably will solidify a varsity spot. Noah Hermanson is a junior. Cross country is not his main thing but we’re going to look to him for his experience. He’s a competitor so were going to look to him to fill in one of those varsity spots.”

Despite still being uncertain for the other spots on the team, the Bobcats hold the advantage of hosting the district meet at Marshalltown Community College, which is not only where the team trains but also where MHS will race at four times this season.

“What I love about having our own course [is] we’re going to start our season and finish our regular season on this course which gives us a great opportunity to measure growth,” Pietig said. “They don’t have a lot of racing experience and they need to see that they are making growth and progress and that these practices and Saturday mornings coming out here that it’s worth it. Getting to race here multiple times will hopefully show us that.

The MHS cross country teams start the season Thursday at the Bobcat Early Bird Meet at MCC starting at 4:30 p.m.