Quality will carry HHS cross country

The cupboard is full – in more ways than one – for the Humboldt High School cross country program. The Wildcats, led by veteran head coach Dean Clasen, boast 49 runners overall, 31 boys and 18 girls. The girls return eight letterwinners while the boys have 11 lettermen back. With just about everybody back, the Wildcats appear poised to challenge for North Central Conference supremacy. “We lost only one varsity runner from last year’s squad. Not having to fill gaps makes this year easier, considering everyone comes back just as good or better from a year ago,” Clasen said. “We have a time of 19:30 for the boys. We have 11 boys that ran under 19:30 last year. What a great place to start. So we hope they can be 30-45 seconds faster to start off this year,” Clasen said. Senior Sam Larson will lead the Wildcat girls. Larson was the school’s only state meet participant last fall, placing seventh in the Class 3A state meet with a school record time of 14:58. Seniors Jake Miller and Michael Bowden will lead the Wildcat boys.See complete story in the Aug. 29 issue of the Independent. 2013 WILDCAT SCHEDULESept. 3 at Webster City 5:00Sept. 10 at Estherville 5:00Sept. 16 at Ballard 5:00Sept. 19 at Clear Lake 4:30Sept. 23 Humboldt Invite 5:00Sept. 26 at Iowa Falls 5:00Sept. 30 at Algona 5:00Oct. 8 at Eagle Grove 4:30 p.m.Oct. 15 NCC, Eagle Grove 4:00Oct. 24 State qualifying meetNov. 2 State meet