Hey guys,

So this was by far the best season that Maine South Cross Country has ever had. The season started out strong for us as we were finally able to top the alumni in a race of our team vs. them. We then won the D207 meet, beating Maine West and Maine East, but then our season went downhill. We struggled at the Lyons Township invitational, with only Jack Carpenter running well, and missing our 3rd guys, Robert Taylorm who had salmonella poisining. From there we went to the Peoria-Notre Dame, where we again didn't show up ready to race, and a lot of that was on me as i had run very poorly. We finished 17th i believe, when last year we finished 5th. The Tuesday after that however, we were able to top New Trier, with Jack Carpenter and I nearly getting our school's course record. We thought things were starting to lookup, but that's when we hit rock bottom. At Palatine the following staurday we finished 12th, and i dropped out fo the race after I got a horrible cramp. Our team was losing confidence quickly, and the Seniors could feel their last year of Cross Country slipping away. We sat down with the team and talkerd it out, until we got back on track everyone would run every single run with the whole team, and I took much of the blame because i hadn't stepped up all season, as a team we lifted eachother up. From there on out we won every meet, up to sectionals, Winning our second meet against CSL competition, taking home the Addison Trail Blazer Classic trophy, then the Conference title. This was when we knew our team was starting to come together, i was finally hitting ym stride, and Robby was almost back to full racing strength. The next week we took home the Regional Title for the second year in a row, and after that p[laced 2nd in sectionals behind York. The following week at the state meet we placed 5th, the best finish in school history, with all state performance by myself (14:40) and Robby Taylor (14:43). It was a season to remember, and I know speaking for all the guys, it's going to be very difficult saying goodbye to this team, where we have become like a family over the last few years, with our great coach, Greg Nordahl starting to make MSXC into a program that should be able to compete with the big dogs for years to come.