The Wildcats showcased tremendous growth at Gibson Southern as they wrapped up the teams competitive seasons. Both teams finished 10th in the field of 16 and considering neither program could compete with a full roster last year that is a big jump. With the boys team finishing just 20 points out of 8th in the sectional and will return the entire roster next year its easy to envision what the future could bring. The girls roster will graduate three key contributors and look to reload in the off season. The Lady Wildcats ran first yesterday and really set the tone for the day as all five athletes turned in season best runs and three of the five runners setting new all time personal records. Leading the pack was Madison Cooper who looked strong and comfortable as she turned in a new personal record (22:23) and punched her ticket to Regionals for the second straight season. Next week she will compete at Regionals being hosted by Crawford County. Madison has already had success on that course as she won the freshman invite there last season. Makayla Scheinder had a huge day yesterday as she finished 47th overall with a season best time of 22:49. Not only was that a season best but was the fastest time she has turned in since her freshman year. Makayla missed advancing as an individual by only two spots so she will stay ready this week incase she receives a call back for the Regional. If this was in fact her last race as a Wildcat it was definitely a high note to end on before she starts her collegiate career. Senior Maddie Abel was the next in at 59. Maddie also saved the best for last as she wrapped up her senior season with a season best 23:47. This was her best race in three seasons. Her hard work paid off with huge improvements this year. From the first race of the season to yesterdays run Maddie improved her time 4:46. Maddie will now turn her focus to the Dance Cats and will then start gearing up for track. Freshman Addie Blackburn continued to show her growth yesterday as she turned in a personal record performance for the fifth week in a row. Addie finished 70th in her Sectional debut with a time of 24:30. Addie is one of the most improved athletes in the program. Over the course of the season she took 3:19 off of her race time. Addie has shown how much hard work can pay off and will be a key building block for the team going forward. Rachael Shockley wrapped up her season with her best run of the year as well. Rachael came out for her first season in cross country as a senior. As a new student to the school she joined the team late missing summer conditioning but that didn't stop her from making significant improvement. Rachael rounded out the team roster giving the girls enough entries to compete as a team. This is an intimidating sport to just jump into and Rachael tackled it head on. Her grit and determination helped her improve 2:53 over the six races she ran. Avery Capes lead the boys and secured his spot to Regionals with a personal record of 17:23 finishing 32 overall. Avery is one of the most improved Wildcats as he has improved 2:40 since the season opener. Avery has also improved 2:53 since last season. He will look to continue his success at Crawford County next weekend where he was medaled the two seasons in the class division races. Marcus Riecken was next for the Cats. Marcus turned in a personal record time of 17:31 40th overall and also qualified for Regionals. Marcus has been one of the most consistent runners this season. His times on every course this season have been significantly better than last year. Marcus also is a two time medalist at Crawford County and will look to build on that momentum next week. Jake Gross ended his rookie campaign with a new personal record of 18:07 and 54th overall. Over the course of the season Jake improved 2:09. More impressively Jakes time of 18:07 would of made him the teams top entry last year by 14 seconds. Jake has shown that he is a real talent and key block of the teams success this season. With the experience he gained this year there is no doubt that with another training block under his belt he will be contending with his teammates next season at Regionals. Thomas Scates was next for the Wildcats as he set a new personal record of 19:10. His development this year is undeniable. His run at Sectionals was 1:58 faster than last years season best. He has been the reliable performer for the team all year. A testament to his growth isn't the good races though, its the lesser ones. His slowest time this season would of been a 46 second personal record last year. Freshman Logan Greenwell wrapped up his successful rookie season yesterday. Logan finished 79th in the sectional with a time of 19:11. Logan came into the season as an immediate impact battling all season between the 3 thru 5 spot on the team. Logan improved 1:21 over the season with a personal record of 19:08. Last season that would of been the third best run of any Wildcat. William Lemberg finished his Junior campaign with personal records in back to back weeks. William broke the 20 minute mark for the first time with a run of 19:55. William took 17 seconds off of his PAC time and almost a full three minutes off from the season opener. William helped the Cats multiple times this season as the number six runner by placing in front other teams number five. Ty Lange finished up his rookie season with the largest time drop of any runner. Ty has shown a consistent trend the last few weeks improving each race. He capped off his season with his best run setting a new personal record of 23:24. From start to finish Ty was able to improve 5:44 this year. From top to bottom both programs have saw success both as teams and individually. Now with three qualifiers for Regionals the team will take the upcoming week to rest up and mentally prepare for a strong field at Crawford Country. Best of luck Avery Capes, Marcus Riecken and Madison Cooper.