Filling their shoes will be a challenge for the Knights, but they are fortunate to have Lexi Bright (4 state appearances), Brynn Fernholz and Chloe Larue leading the girls and Kyle Schill (5 state appearances), Alex Salwasser (19th in state last year) and Kade Runge (3 state appearances) for the boys.

“Like all teams, we also have some student athletes that were either involved in football or volleyball helping us out this year and adding some talented depth to our teams,” noted Van Kempen.  “Juniors Liz Rustan and Halle Foslien are two of those from the volleyball team that will be competing for varsity spots along with Macy Grosz and Mya Foslien.” 

Returners with varsity experience are freshman Taylor Bennett, Sydney Ulrich, Alexa Blume and Terina Blascyk.   Junior Kennedy Porter is also returning after being injured last year. 

“For the girls we have a nice balance of experience and inexperienced kids, so it will be our job to mesh that together to compete against some locally talented teams,” said Van Kempen.  “With the 3 team meet schedule, it will be interesting to see how teams may have to change their strategy.”

As for the boys, Van Kempen says, “Kyle Schill has looked really good early and is running with a vengeance, as he had some health issues all last season.  Juniors Alex Salwasser and Kade Runge come to the team with a lot of experience racing together and that has been our strength.  Our ability to stay close to each other in races has led to two consecutive 2nd place finishes in the state, both times behind the powerhouse Perham Yellowjackets.  Juniors Shad Swanson, Reubens Swanson and Tyler Biss, sophomores Peyton Hanson, Isaac Kreft, Roman Mihalovski, Eli Bergman and Anthony Sykora will also add depth or our roster.  Freshmen Jack Courrier, Dane Anderson and Nasir Dotts too have looked good early.  It’s been great having kids vying for varsity spots.” 

 Van Kempen concluded with, “If we can continue with a team first culture, I expect good things from both teams during this unique season.  We have some meets with quality programs dispersed throughout the season and we are hoping that by the end we can be competing with those programs.”