This past weekend, the Eagles got their first boys win at Border Wars in Elsah, Ill. The girls also got an impressive second place. This marks the end of the eighth week of cross country. With the season being halfway through, and conference coming up, it’s important to go over how the season has gone so far. It is also important to see what is next for the Eagles, and what are the goals for the team.

Liberty has had the best season of the program’s history so far. The runners have improved more than ever, with Ayden Taylor (12) being ranked the second fastest runner in Missouri, the boys have the best front runner the team has ever had. For the rest of the team, there have been massive improvements from all of the runners, including both Landon Jones (12), Nate Wietbrock (11), and Ethan Coleman (12). After an injury that started during last year’s track season, Cale Eldredge (12) is now starting to become fully recovered, and will be a big asset to the team.

For the girls, the upperclassmen of the team are showing large growth, including Bella Navarro-Sanchez (10), Kailey Lawrence (11), and Jillian Kalbac (12). There is also a new class of freshmen behind the upperclassmen that show massive potential. Kailynn Burton (9) has shown her dominance amongst the freshmen in the area, with a second place earlier this year in the freshman race at the Forest Park Festival. After her, there are a couple others that show as much potential as her, including Ella Judge (9) and Piper Wietbrock (9), both being siblings of upperclassmen runners. 

It seems that these skill increases don’t just come from the runners working harder, but the team getting closer with each other.

“I think the team chemistry has been better in years past,” Jones said. “I think we are just closer together than years prior.” Kailey Lawrence credited the same aspect to how the team got so much better, saying, “We have been spending more time making sure that we are more of a team and that we are coming closer.”

The team seems to only be going up from here. For both the girls and the boys, their goal is qualifying for the state meet.

“The team’s plan is to start tuning up for postseason, qualify for state, and finish as high as we can at the state meet,” Eldredge said.