BOISE- Every year, Nike Cross Regionals marks the end of the cross country season, saved for the few teams that progress to Nationals. Hellgate Knights cross country makes the trip to Eagle Island XC Course in Boise every year, and after coming off a boys fifth place and a girls win at state, the Knights had high hopes for the meet.
JV had a strong showing, with the girls finishing third in their race and the boys finishing fourth. Many runners had season bests or personal bests, with a strong showing from freshman runners especially.
Beanie Glaser, a sophmore runner for the Knights, said that both JV teams did a really good job sticking together and “helping each other out” throughout the race. “A lot of us peaked at the City meet, a few weeks before,” said Glaser. But overall, JV was able to execute a really strong meet.
On the boys side of varsity, there weren’t high expectations going in. The boys varsity finished fifth at state, the worst performance in over ten years of Hellgate cross country. The team wasn’t able to make the championship race but ran well in the highest division of JV at regionals, finishing sixth overall.
The girls side of varsity was a different story this year. They had a dominant season, finishing with a state title and a perfect score at the City Meet. The possibility of advancing to Nike Cross Nationals (NXN) was circulating.
The girls ended up just short of advancing to Nationals, getting a seventh place finish in the championship race. The team was dealing with a number of injuries such as shin splints and hip issues, but was still able to perform really well to end their extremely impressive season.
“It was such a talented team this year for the Varsity [girls]. I think all of them deserved to go [to NXN], and the chemistry in the team was amazing,” said Glaser.
“We got a record sixty-one athletes going to a post season meet. I’m super excited for the future of the team because we have a lot of underclassmen engaged in the program,” said Wilson Derry, a varsity senior. Derry finished tenth overall in the JV division at NXR with a very strong race.
“Next year I’m looking forward to keeping up what all the seniors had going this year. The seniors this year are so special. They all contribute so much to the team and we all love them so much,” said Glaser. She said that the Knights should try to keep that vibe going in Hellgate cross country, “even if we’ll never be as amazing as they were this year. I just think we should try to keep being a family.”
