X-country running towards regional meet

Comparing to where his team was this time last year, head Saratoga cross country coach Rex Hohnholt is more than pleased with the performance of his team.

The Panthers competed at the Cheyenne Invite this last weekend, which will likely be a testament of how well the team will compete at state. With times improving across the board and his runners facing many of the top runners in the state this last weekend, Hohnholt said he is highly anticipating the outcome of his team’s will performance at the state level.

“I am really excited after this last meet,” Hohnholt said. “They didn’t back down.”

The team spent a majority of last week working with hills, and it certainly paid off.

Hohnholt said the course in Cheyenne was not rugged, but did include many hill intervals. The key to the intervals, Hohnholt said, is for his runners to catch their breath while descending to give them more stamina when ascend up the hills. The local terrain in Saratoga provided an excellent practice conditions for his team.

“We have a lot of good hills [in Saratoga],” Hohnholt said. “When we are up at 7,000 feet or so, it helps with our preparation.”

Additionally, the course in Cheyenne is fairly similar to the course at the state meet in (where). With the success the team had in Cheyenne this weekend, Hohnholt is optimistic about the future.

The Panther runners will compete in a intersquad race to qualify for state tomorrow. Though state qualifying meets are typically ran against other schools, Hohnholt decided with the long distance the team would have to drive to attend one of those meets, along homecoming week, it would be best to run against each other in Saratoga.

“It will just save us a lot of energy,” Hohnholt said.

With the cross country runners competing against their own teammates, Hohnholt said his team will need to challenge each other in order to qualify for state. However, Hohnholt said challenging each other is emphasized in his team every week.

“That’s something we look for in every practice,” he said.

The Panthers will run at home for the last time this season at 4 p.m. tomorrow at Saratoga Resort and Spa.