On Friday, November 7th, the Fair Grove Cross Country Team ended their running season competing at the Mizzou state meet. On the team, the high school girls placed 12th and boys placed 10th at this meet.
The cross country team made it to state this year and the team made great improvements. Sophomore Tyler Whitehead stated, “I think everybody ran a PR (Personal Record) and both teams qualified for state. This is the first time ever that both teams qualified for state in the same year.”
Freshman Keira Marrion-Swan also added, “This is the first time the boys and girls made it [to state] together! I got 15th place in state this year. Our girls team got 12th. That is the highest place we have ever had.”
Jalen Supancic is Fair Grove’s Cross Country Coach, and for the first time ever has achieved the coach of the year award. Supancic stated his personal goals for himself next year. “I am going to continue to work with other coaches to develop and work through training programs that will continue to allow our athletes to improve and will also prepare them for running at the next level, if that’s a goal of theirs,” Supancic shared.
Following the end of cross country season the team is continuing to look for ways to improve. Junior Andrew Farrar expressed, “Some improvements I want to make next year is to become faster than I was this year for cross country and track. More speed, stamina, strength, a better overall mental overcoming mindset and stop being negative and more positive about my runs.”
Whitehead added a few of his goals.“I want to run under 17:00 for my 5k and I want to be all state,” Whitehead expressed.
Supancic is very proud of the cross country team and their achievements. “It was the best finish that both our high school programs have ever had at a state meet.” He continued, “It was a great feeling and an awesome accomplishment for both teams. Our girls had it as a personal goal of theirs to make it to the state meet as a complete team this year, and they accomplished this goal.”
As the finish line is crossed, and the year has ended, Supancic stated what he is most proud of this year, “The most successful part was the continued growth and improvement that our athletes experienced this season.”
