They may not have a wealth of upperclassmen, but the Aberdeen Roncalli Cavaliers have some proven performers on their cross country teams this fall.
Roncalli will be powered by a pair of runners on the girls’ team who are no strangers to success.
Sophomores Addison Cassady and Hazel Kannegieter have been prominent members of the squad for the past few seasons.
“Hazel and Addie are kind of separating themselves as being two of the better runners, not only in the region, but in the state,” said Roncalli coach Casey Steele. “We’re looking forward to really watching them grow. They’re pulling along some of our younger girls.”
Despite still having three seasons remaining, the duo has accumulated loads of experience.
“They were running varsity as seventh graders,” Steele said. “That’s why they seem so seasoned because of that experience.”
They will be joined by some up and coming talent new to the varsity ranks this season.
“We have a couple seventh graders (Harper Kline and Taylor McComsey) who have really worked well over the summer,” Steele said, “and we’re looking for them to be varsity runners for us.”
On the boys’ side, the Cavaliers will be led by lone senior Isaac Price. The other runners are either freshmen or in eighth grade, but have put in some major work.
“Ben Keller had a great summer running,” Steele said. “He logged more miles than anyone else in the whole group and he’s an eighth grader.
Other runners include Leo Madsen, Cole Feickert, and Ezra Steele.
Roncalli opens its season at a meet on Thursday in Redfield.
Coach Steele said that while running long distances can be a challenge, he tries to have the runners keep things in perspective.
“We choose our hard. That’s what it is,” he said. “It can be hard on race day if we don’t train hard, to be in the back of the pack or not where we should be. If we choose our hard being practice times, then we reap the benefits on meet day, that way we can see our times melt away and get faster and faster.”
Steele equated distance running to saving money, being able to build up reserves to draw on when needed.
“It’s one of those things, that you do it and you do it without emotion. You just get out there and you do it daily, because you know what you’re investing in. It’s like saving money,” Steele said. “The easy thing is to spend money. Saving is difficult. But once you start saving and get in that routine, then you can take dividends out of the bank or out of your investments later on. That’s what running is. You’re paying yourself, you’re putting miles in the bank, so on race day you can come out and do that.”
With this year’s team featuring runners at various stages of experience and success in the sport, Steele said there will be different goals for different runners. In the case of Cassady, Kannegieter and Price in particular, those goals have already been discussed.
“With our more seasoned kids we talk goals right away,” Steele said. “We talk about, how do we get out in a race, how do with settle into our pace, and how we do things, and we start doing intervals. We actually simulate a race by doing that.”
