Mud, mud and more mud, also lots of rain. This is really the best way to describe the conditions our runners faced on Saturday night at Centerville. This was one of the most challenging meets that our runners will ever take on, but it was also a lot of fun. After days of rain, and thousands of runners churning up the course the mud was more than ankle deep despite the efforts that Centerville’s program went to and the truckloads of mulch they applied to the course's worst spots. We made the best of it and still ran some good races, even though there were no PR’s to be had, given the conditions.

The girls were the first to take on the messy Centerville course. Starting out the race, it was just sprinkling, but as the evening went on, the rain came down! Laila Black was again the first Wildcat to cross the line with a course best considering the conditions! Bryley Wulff and Kydee Schults came in second and third while Sarah Wallace crossed the finish line in fourth for Franklin. Kydee also had a course best. Julionnya Junaitis finished the race in 5th for the team. “The weather and course was brutal for the ladies and there were 7 more races to start after they finished!!” coach Hill states, “I am just grateful all the girls crossed the line with both shoes on their feet and no one got hurt.”

There were a couple of races between the girls and boys and the conditions only deteriorated. The guys took on this muddy course under the lights, and came away muddied and exhausted, but unhurt and with both shoes still on their feet, so that’s a win. Connor Green made his return to racing after being out a few weeks with an injury and led the team with a top 20 finish of 15th place overall out of 223 runners. He was followed by Oliver Crosthwaite in 29th place overall. Daniel Osborne, Caleb Osborne and Donaven Butler, also making his return to racing after being out for the last couple of meets, rounded out our top five. Everyone will be hoping for much better conditions moving forward as we head into the postseason portion of our schedule.

The Wildcats are not competing this coming weekend as we focus on training for the next couple of weeks in preparation for the SWBL championships. This year's SWBL meet will be held at Fort St. Clair park in Eaton on Saturday October 12th. The boys varsity will compete at 9:15am followed by the girls varsity at 9:45am. Come out and cheer on the wildcats as the ladies look to make a statement and the boys try their best to defend their SWBL title from last season.