Some student athletes have trained the whole year in preparation for the Gateway Athletic Conference, otherwise known as the GAC.
Fourteen varsity cross country students competed on Oct. 12 at McNair Park in St. Charles.
These varsity members competed against five other teams in the GAC Central: Fort Zumwalt East, Fort Zumwalt South, Washington, Fort Zumwalt North, and Holt. Each member raced against the other, competing in the 5000-meter race.
Boys
The boys cross country varsity team consisted of seven athletes. These athletes captured the GAC championship title for the first time since 2020. The boys GAC championship team was led by Ayden Taylor, Cale Eldredge, Nolan Schlattman, Landon Jones, Nate Whitbrock, Trevor Judge, and Nathan Miller. All seven athletes placed in the top 15 out of 33 student-athletes.
Ayden Taylor and Tyler Anderson (Fort Zumwalt East) were both head-to-head in the race, one leading the other. Anderson eventually took the lead and pulled away at the last 50 meters, placing first in the boys Central Division. Taylor placed Second, falling behind Anderson by a little less than a second.
Cale Eldredge and Nolan Schlattman were not far behind Taylor. Eldredge placed fourth, and Schlattman placed fifth, both placing in the boys Central Division.
“What pushes me the most to keep going whenever it gets tough or I feel like giving up is my teammates,” Eldredge said.
The boys varsity team had a huge win, beating the second-place team, Fort Zumwalt East, by 30 points.
All seven boys put in so much effort to make it to the GAC championships, and their hard work and dedication paid off in the end.
Girls
The girls cross country team has had a super successful season. The girls varsity cross country team also has seven athletes. These athletes are: Imane Larhdiri, Jillian Kalbac, Kaley Lawrence, Bella Naravo-Sanchez, Mirra McSpadden, Mary-Jane Fleming, and Caitlin O’Mara.
These varsity girls dominated the competition against the other four teams, making them the GAC champions. Lahdiri, Kalbac and Lawrence took the top three spots. Most of the team placed in the top 15 out of 33 athletes.
Lahdiri placed first with a time of 20 minutes and 8 seconds. Not far behind her were Kalbac and Lawrence.
Kalbac and Lawrence were neck and neck. It came down to the millisecond, Kalbac came out as second, with a time of 20.26.33 seconds. Lawrence placed third just .59 milliseconds behind Kalbac.
“My motivation is my teammates and family. I know they depend on me, such as Kailey Lawrence who I focus on staying with and helping the whole race,” Kalbac said.
With all the work these student-athletes put in, they beat out the other four teams and gained another title.
This was the varsity girls fourth conference title. The last time they won the conference title was back in 2021.
