The Ottertail Central Bulldogs started cross country practice last week as they prepare for the season opener this Thursday in Menahga. There are a total of 54 athletes out 7th-12th grade, 34 more than last year. That is something first year head coach Brady Speicher is excited about, “Our numbers are excellent, after the MSHSL made the decision to postpone football and volleyball we were able to convince some to try cross country, we should have a very competitive roster from Varsity down to Junior High.”
Last year the boys team took second at conference behind Wadena. The Bulldogs bring back two experienced runners in Isaac Scherfenber and Blake Alonzo to help lead the way. “Issac and Blake are the two most experienced runners we have and I expect them to lead on and off the course as the year progresses. Noah Mansker and Joseph Froslee are also two guys we are going to need to be consistent in order to have success.” Along with the returners there are plenty of new faces trying cross country for the first time this year. “It takes seven runners to make a varsity squad so we are going to need some of the new guys to step up like Drew Durbin, Issac Hallberg, and Nick Carter just to name a few and after watching the first week practice I believe we have all the necessary pieces to compete for a conference title.”
On the girls side they look to improve on their third place finish at conference last year as Wadena ran away with the title. They have four returners, Raeanne Frost, Laney Frost, Kyleigh Schebeck, and Elizbeth Radermacher. Speicher not only expects those four to run fast but also share their experiences with the new runners to help make this team as successful as possible, “I’m very excited to watch our girls team grow this year, we have close to 25 new girls come out and there is a lot of potential for a successful season.” Speicher says it is going to be very competitive to make the varsity team on the girls side. “Right now I believe there are about 15 girls who could end up on the varsity squad, we held a two mile time trial last week and I was impressed with the depth of our lineup.” Some new faces you can expect to see leading the way for the Bulldogs are Ady Tysdal, Faith Fischer, Grace VanErp and Jorja Gabrielson.
The goals for the teams have been set high by coach Speicher “I truly believe that both the boys and girls teams have a great chance at capturing conference titles this year, not only at the varsity level but JV and JH as well. In order for that to happen it is going to take everyone coming to practice everyday with the mindset of, “how can I make my teammates better today” if we can figure out how to do that, this team will have success.”
Julie Frost and Leslie Setterholm are assistant coaches.
