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An Ending to a Great Season!

XC Final Results

November 07, 2019

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Diercks, Bretz Place at State Cross Country Meet

By Tom Friess

We traveled to Wamego on Saturday, Nov. 2 for the State Cross Country Meet where junior Emily Diercks and freshman Drew Bretz looked to put an exclamation point on what was already a very successful season. Both had survived the elimination race at a very competitive regional and now had the opportunity to run the hilly course at the Wamego Country Club. With their teammates along for support, they prepared themselves all week for that task.

Emily was first up on the line as she toed the mark with 95 other competitors. This was by far the biggest field that Emily has run in all year and we had worked on getting her away at the start so she wouldn’t be swallowed up in the sea of humanity. Her strategy was to climb the hill at the start and look to pass groups on the first downhill and then position herself on the switchback hills right before the mile mark. She executed this pretty well as she came off the first turn in the middle of the pack, passed several opponents on the downhill and found herself in the top 20 going into the hills. She ran a nice set of up-hills to further advance herself into 10th place. Now it was a race of guts and mind over matter. She was able to complete the course in her new best time of 20:27 for the course at Wamego. This was 29 seconds faster than her previous best and her 9th place finish earned her a third consecutive trip to the podium. This feat matches both Madi Niblock and Luke Friess for the most medalist honors for Hoxie HighSchool with an opportunity to be a four-time medalist.

Drew made his state XC debut as part of the last race of the day. He started in a field of 104 runners and his strategy was very similar to Emily’s except he was in a starting gate right in the middle of the field so he was going to have to pick his way through the pack. He raced his way into the top 10 as he came out of the switchback hills and then looked to hold off the competition and secure a medal. Drew not only answered every challenge that the course threw at him, but he also answered every challenge from his competitors. However, most importantly overcame every challenge from the little voice inside him which is constantly trying to persuade a runner to seek comfort. He lost a few places over the last ¾ mile or so but ran 17:46 which broke his previous personal best 5K record by a whopping 24 seconds. This on what is arguably the most challenging course and the biggest stage that a high school runner can compete on. This was quite a day for this young man who entered with high hopes of placing and was not disappointed. KC Giancola, son of Chris and Tenille Giancola, raced to a 19th place finish for the Syracuse Bulldogs in the 2A boys’ race wrapping up a great XC career with for the three-time qualifier and two-time medalist at state.

It was a cool day but pretty calm and I really was convinced as race after race went off that this would be a great opportunity. It was just an awesome day and a great end to the season. Our t-shirts bore the Latin motto, “Venimus, Vidimus, Deus Vicit.” (We came, we saw God conquered.) With Emily bringing experience and even with Drew being inexperienced they both managed to do what our team has always strived to do ... glorify God by using our talents better than we ever did before. Thus, we put a wrap on our season and what a season it was. We had a team that set personal best after personal best and earned some hardware at races from the middle school division to the high school junior varsity to varsity. Each practice and each race helped to form these kids into a better version of themselves as they learned to share in each other’s pain as well as joy. They survived the “Trials of the Miles” presented on the long runs as well as the mental pounding of doing 12 repeat 400’s or 6 repeat 800’s. Everything I threw at them they tried their best to complete and autograph it with excellence. I can’t put into words how proud I am of this group and look forward to being with them all in the future as they were all underclassmen. So, until next year we will put away the hurdles, take down the practice schedules and rack the medicine balls, but we will get to keep in our hearts the memories of one exceptionally fine season.

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