There is a variety of motivation for runners in the Aberdeen Christian cross country programs this fall.
Joseph Richards and Andrew Schwab will be looking to return to the state meet, Clara Herreid will attempt to get to the meet after a couple of narrow misses, and the Knights are anticipating being able to field a full boys’ team by the end of the season.
“We have three kids that have been with us for a while,” said Christian coach Adam Franken, in his third season with the program. “We gained one more boy this year, so excited to hopefully get a boys’ team together.”
Now a junior, Richards continues to get physically stronger each season.
“I’m excited to see what that added growth and maturity, how it contributes to his running,” Franken said. “He’s been looking good in practice.”
Schwab is right there as well, as he and Richards push each other to get better.
“And the end of last year both of those two were just competing against each other,” Franken said. “That really showed at conference, region, and then at state, they had a great end the of year. I’m excited to see how that continues to flow over into this year.”
The duo will be joined by first-year member Matthew Dorn giving the Knights enough members to be able to score team points at meets.
“Matthew is his first year in cross country. Each practice has been getting better,” Franken said. “In track he was a more of a middle-distance guy, so he’s kind of learning the distance side of things a little bit.”
Dorn may end up running some sub-varsity meets to start the year, with the hopes of joining the varsity at some stage.
“I’m hopeful and pretty confident that at the end of the year, he’ll be up there running varsity,” Franken said, “and see what we can do as a team once we get to regions.”
Franken noted that Richards and Schwab, who both have state-meet experience, have a strong demeanor heading into the season.
“They have that confidence too about them now, when they go out and run, knowing that they can do well,” Franken said. “They want to put in that work to make sure that they get there.”
Herreid has been been on the cusp of reaching state for the past two seasons, just missing out in the region against loaded fields.
“Great leader for the cross country team and great runner,” Franken said of the sophomore. “She just missed out on state the last couple years. It’s not that she doesn’t run well. We have just a really difficult region with girls. Not as an excuse, but it’s packed full of great competition.”
Franken said that Herreid has been doing what she can to find an edge that will help to garner a spot at the state meet.
“Last year towards the end of the year, I noticed it quite a bit, developing those relationships with some of the other runners, too and kind of knowing where she needs to be,” Franken said, “and those goals with time and individuals where she can try to push herself to be with those people and just knowing that more.”
Franken’s daughter, Danielle, is also on the team. She will likely run some sub-varsity meets with a goal of lowering her times.
“Just continuing to get into shape and improve every practice, that’s kind of our goal,” Coach Franken said, “is just to keep improving throughout the year.”
The Knights, who open the season at the North Central Invitational on Thursday, have the aforementioned goals in mind as they start the season.
“We do look at those goals,” Franken said. “Those are some of the obvious goals that we have, individuals and as a team.”
Other goals include daily improvement, with an emphasis on running for the right reasons.
“One of things that we talk about at practice is, it’s great to be a good competitive runner and want to do your best, but how does that correlate then to life, and just our testimony as Christians to run for Christ?” Franken said. “It’s one of those things, I want to them to be great runners, but I want them to be great people.”
