This past weekend, the women’s cross country team brought home the fifth State Girls’ Cross Country title in Wahlert school history. This serves as the the first 2017 title, keeping the streak of annually winning a state championship alive for another year.

“Going into the season, I had hoped we would be able to win a state championship, but I wasn’t sure it would happen. As the season went

on, our confidence grew, and I started to believe that the dream of winning state could become a reality,” said Kaylee Osterberger, ‘18.

People may have doubted the cross country girls at the beginning of the season, since they had only 17 runners total; however, this proved to only benefit the team.

“This season has been my favorite yet. I was able to get to know everyone on the team more than usual because we were so small. The support we had for each other was amazing,” reflected Gracie Long, ‘19.

This support was evident in the success of the team, which started the season off with three undefeated meets against 4A schools. From there, the women’s cross country team only improved.

“I think that we were very successful this year because we were all really close as a team and had the same goal of winning state to keep us motivated,” commented Long.

On Oct. 27, 43-year Coach Cynthia Wagner, along with the seven varsity runners, three alternates (Emma Wachter, ‘18, Kylie Cox and Olivia Blosch, ‘19), and two managers (Liv King and Holli Hammerand, ‘18) made the trip to Fort Dodge for the 18th time in the past 19 years.

The varsity team included  four seniors (Grace Herber, Kaylee Osterberger, Holly Hohmann and Emma Earles, ‘18), one junior (Gracie Long, ‘19), one sophomore (Aunna Huesman, ‘20) and one freshman (Gabby Moran, ‘21).

The team won the meet with a total of 72 points, with three runners in the top 10 and all five counters in the top 30. Moran finished her first state meet in third place, Herber placed sixth, Osterberger eighth, Earles 27th, and Long 29th. Huesman and Hohmann finished 37th and 57th respectively.

The best part of winning state? “That we were able to achieve the goal with the teammates we were so close with. Over the season we were very dedicated and hard-working, so it’s nice to see that work pay off,” said Osterberger.

Moran agreed, commenting that her first high school cross country season was very memorable. “The season was one that I will remember forever. The upperclassmen were so welcoming and really made us feel more like a family than a team. We were also very successful at every meet we had, which made it even better.”

As for next year, although four varsity members are graduating, three extremely talented veterans remain, and there are many promising runners for the 2018 season.

Looking ahead, Moran is excited for the future of Wahlert cross country. “Next year I’m looking forward to being able to try to make it back to state, hopefully as a team, and do our best to continue what we started this year.”