2023 Eagles Cross Country Season Review

Ankeny, IA - The 2023 Cross Country season was one for the record books.  It was the first time that the Eagles had a full 7-person squad for both the women's and men's teams, had multiple All-American award winners in one season, and the first time the Eagles have won a team plaque at Nationals for placing in the top 4.  It was an incredible season of hard work and determination by everyone on the team.

The team tried some new things this season with their training regimen. In some cases it worked well, and in others they had some lessons learned to approach differently in future years. The teams put a lot of miles on their shoes through the season, with some weeks running over 40 miles in addition to weight training. There were some injuries during the season, but they seemed to be fewer than in previous years. Other than a tendonitis flare up at the start of pre-season, the runners that logged the most quality summer miles leading up to pre-season tend to hold up best to the demands of the distance and speed training throughout the season, so we will continue to encourage that going forward.

Coach Long was thankful to have Coach Nathan Brace helping out this year, which was a huge benefit to help push the lead runners during practices as well as helping capture mile splits at races.  Coach was also thankful for the leadership of the team captains (Conrad Lobb and Caressa Kluver) and prayer captain (Elizabeth Beenken) who were very helpful in keeping the team's focus on growing spiritually as well as physically.

The team enjoyed celebrating at Nationals with our All-Americans: David Loveall, Becca Hulinsky, and Conrad Lobb.  The Eagles also celebrated improvement across the entire team, with one runner in particular, Karynna Ward, demonstrating outstanding improvement as she moved up from the 7th place spot on the team to the 4th place spot at Nationals! 

We are looking forward to having most of the team back next year as we continue to strive to do our best to honor the Lord with the talents He has given us.

Team Awards

Men's Most Valuable Runner - David Loveall 

Women's Most Valuable Runner - Becca Hulinsky