Cross Country meets in 2020 are different than in years past; Covid safety regulations have limited Berne Union to participating in small meets (not exceeding 4 teams) exclusively as opposed to the large invitationals that they would have attended in previous years. When asked how it feels to not run in large invitationals Wes Nye said, “Personally, I find it more mentally challenging to keep your desired pace at a smaller meet compared to an invitational. It’s more difficult to push yourself without a lot of people next to you at all times. Although I enjoy the small meets, invitationals are a key asset to our season and it’s been tough without them.” At this time the Cross Country team has participated in four meets. Two of those meets took place at home and the other two at Logan and Liberty Union. Unlike previous years when Berne Union had both a full boys and girls team, this year Zoey Warner is the only girl on the team. Clearly she is frustrated by this as she said, “I have no team and have no one to run with during races.”
Earlier this month, the Berne Union boys beat Logan High School in a two mile duel on Logan’s home course and lost to Liberty Union on its home course. BU and Liberty tied in regulation scoring and the winner was decided by which team had the better sixth runner. When asked how he thinks the boys team is doing so far this year Coach Bob responded, “We think that the team has worked extremely hard and has been very productive so far. We are a very young team and if we keep working as hard as we have been this could be one of the best boys teams Berne Union has ever had.” Both the boys team and the girls team (Zoey) will continue their season at least until the District meet, which is currently scheduled for Friday, October 23rd.
By: Joe Shull