Congratulations to the Crusader Boys Cross Country for their 8th place finish at the TAPPS 6A Cross Country meet on November 2nd in Hewitt, TX. The Crusaders were led by the 13th place finish of junior Will K. in a time of 17:17.8, followed by sophomore Matthew K. (51st place) and junior Will A. (60th place).
This performance at state reflects the collective effort of the entire team, with each member of this team pushing themselves to be their personal best all year long. In the process, the boys motivated each other to become stronger and faster. The team made vast improvement over the 2019 season, moving up 10 places in the team standings.
Junior Will K. also earned the prestigious Academic All State award. In order to be named Academic All State, Will finished in the top 15 in the championship race and maintained a cumulative GPA of 90% of higher.
Coach Eric Oblinger said this about his 2020 team: “A critical component to this year’s success was the team’s adherence to the core values. Fraternity, Attitude, Service, and Training Tops Talent (FAST3). The boys treated every member of the team as valuable regardless of their ability. They came to practice with a can-do attitude. The boys went out of their way to encourage and assist their teammates athletically and academically. The effort of the JV and Varsity during the dog days of summer and throughout the season was the best ever. One of the varsity runners made the following comment about one of the JV runners. ‘If his leg fell off while running, I think he would just put it back on and keep running!’ Coach Everitt and I are proud of their effort and success, but we are even more proud of the solid character of this group of young men.”
The Crusader Boys Cross Country will return six of the seven runners who ran at the state meet next year.
Complete results from the TAPPS State Cross Country meet can be found at http://results2.deltatiming.com/2020-tapps-xc-championships/#event23.