The Wildcat cross country traveled to Boonville this morning to compete in the Pioneer Invitational. It was a strong showing to kick off the season. The boys showed strength in numbers today with a tight grouping with scoring positions (17,35,43,44,49). The close grouping landed the boys just outside of a team ribbon finishing 6th in the field of 14 teams. Today showed how much difference a year can make. Last season the boys team had four runners and couldn't compete as a team. This season the roster has grown to eight and they look ready to make a statement. The growth is huge when you look back to this meet last year alone for the teams returning runners. Marcus Riecken last year 20:46 finished 41st, this year 19:24 finishing 17th. Avery Capes last year 21:36 finishing 56, this 20:03 finishing 35th, Thomas Scates with the biggest jump going from 23:21 finishing 82th, this year a personal record to open the season 20:18 finishing 44th. The other two scoring spots come from the Cats new additions. Jake Gross made his debut finishing third for the Wildcats and 43rd overall. Freshman Logan Greenwell closed out the team score with a 49th overall finish. As these two get more race experience under their belts its going to be exciting to see how their rookie seasons play out. William Lemberg was 6th for the Cats with a showing comparable to last season and as the miles add up he looks ready to contribute. Ty Lange rounded out the boys performance with his 5k debute. Ty has shown steady progress the last two weeks in practice and looked comfortable in his first race. The Lady Wildcats ran second today and had the unfortune the temp raising by the time the starting fired. Despite that the girls still had strong showing. Crossing the line first for the girls was Madison Cooper who earned a ribbon finishing 26th in the crowded field of 110 runners. Next was Makayla Schiender finishing 53rd, followed by Freshman Addie Blackburn 68 and Senior Maddie Abel at 74. Everyone ran comparable times to last years opener and I think that is a great sign for these runners. The training volume is much higher this year so to be able to repeat those performances on tired bodies is impressive and to see what they can do rested and tapered should be exciting. The girls did not enter as a team this week but that all changes soon. With the addition of Rachael Shockley to the team the girls will officially enter as a team at the next meet. The teams are preparing for a solid training block this upcoming week as they get a break in the racing action. We will off the data we got today as they set their sights on the Alan Hopewell Class Invitational on September 3.