Humboldt girls will continue NCC cross country dominance
Members of the Humboldt High girls’ cross country team, front row (l-r): Ashley Grainger, Gabby Kent, Isabella Luu, Holly Kirchhoff and Jenna Clark. Middle row: Kate Curran, Tabitha Jergens, Kaylynn Bagbey, Bryce Gidel, Madeleine Ruzicka and Ananda Boyd. Back row: Katelyn Skow, Kirstyn Beaman, Avery Terwilliger and Morgan Hotovec. Not pictured: Lauren Erickson, Jazlin Ramirez, Emily Schaffer. Independent photo.
You can’t help but notice the enthusiasm in the Humboldt High School pre-season cross country camp.
The Wildcat girls, winners of six of the last seven North Central Conference team championships, are focused on winning an unprecedented fourth straight title. The boys, meanwhile, are looking to win the school’s first team title since 1995 after placing second last year.
“There is a lot of excitement within the program. We do have the talent to do some pretty good things. As anybody who has ever coached for any period of time knows, not only do you have to have the talent, but the right work ethic, attitude and a little bit lucky in regards to injuries,” Humboldt head coach Dean Clasen said. “If everything falls into place like we hope it does, we do have an opportunity to do some really good things this season.”
“We have a nice core of boys coming back who gained a lot of experience last year with the successes they had. Perhaps a few running mistakes cost them a conference championship. Hopefully they have learned from that,” Clasen said. “I know a number of them put in the miles during the summer and it shows in how they are practicing.”
“It has been since 1995 when our boys last won a conference title. They have pretty much stated that is too long. You have to like that kind of attitude,” Clasen said.
“Our girls have won the conference six times out of the last seven years with a couple of strings of three-peats in there. This could be our first group to win four in a row. Again, we have the talent to do that,” Clasen said.
“Some of the other teams in the conference will be improved this year. There will be some younger runners coming in from the other schools. But overall, I think our depth and quality of runners makes us capable of being real successful,” Clasen said.
The Wildcat girls are coming off an eighth-place finish in last year’s state meet while the boys, who were a close runner-up in the NCC meet, qualified for state and placed 12th in Class 3A.
See full story and photos in the Aug. 25 issue of the Humboldt Independent Newspaper. Subscribe today for print/digital access to the Independent by selecting the link on this page to get started!
