Rain or shine, the State-bound boys cross country team competes to win

This Saturday Hoffman’s boys cross country team heads to the state meet in Peoria.

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Shiv Patel, Staff Writer

Rain once again bombarded the sectional cross country course of Busse Woods and continued to pour throughout the day. This presented the challenges of wet grass, mud on all the corners; all while 18 boys cross country teams ran strong on October 31, vying for a top five finish in order to qualify to the Illinois State Championships.

One hour before race time, Coach Brenden Mariano, Math Department, gathered the team together for a few short words.

“One more hour, for one more week together. Run for each other,” said the Mariano.

The team continued to do its warm ups in the rain and began to prepare. However, from the start of the race, the entire field felt the effects of the rain as the entire front line of runners slipped in mud. Many caught themselves, others did not.

The Hawks managed to get into decent position and powered to a fourth place finish. With team work and synergy, the team ended the day punching in its ticket to the State meet once again.

“It took a strong minded bunch to accomplish what we did. Another week of adversity, but we proved why we deserved a ticket down state,” said Captain Nathan Otto.

Shiv Patel and Jack Worman gave the Hawks a frontline presence while Alex Makrounis, Bryan Gamboa, and Nathan Otto rounded out the scoring with a strong 3-4-5 punch.

Ryan Greenwalt added a solid sixth man effort to make sure the Hawks achieved the end goal: competing at the state championship.

The Hawks will compete at the state meet in Peoria, Illinois November 7.