Spencer runners focusing on individual achievements this fall

With slightly lower numbers than the past couple years, the Spencer cross country team won’t have enough members on either the girls or the boys side to compete as a team this year. Instead, the small and mostly young group will be taking to the course as individual competitors, putting the focus this year on each athlete’s individual skills and talents.

Leading the Rockets in this journey is Jared Klimmer, who is stepping up from his position as assistant coach to take over the head coach position previously held by Jason Miller. Already having a familiarity with the team, and with Miller sticking around to help out as an assistant coach, Klimmer said the transition has been pretty challenge-free.

“All the kids are coming back this year,” he said. “Just being with Jason last year made this transition pretty easy. Jason is still on to help assist so that helps even more.”

In total, there are four girls and four boys who will be running for the Rockets this season. Just one runner short for each group to be able to compete as a team at invitationals, Klimmer said the Spencer athletes will be competing as individuals at all of their meets this season. While they are not able to compete as a team, Klimmer said the lack of just enough members to meet the five-member quota doesn’t change how they practice or prepare for competitions.

“We can’t fill a team so we will be competing as individuals,” he said. “As long as someone is there to practice with, they don’t need a team to be successful.”

Looking at the two groups, Klimmer said the girls are young and inexperienced compared to the boys, who are mostly made up of seniors. As such, the newer runners will be working on building their skills during the season, while the older runners will be focused on getting some personal achievements under their belts.

“It’s a small team, same as last year,” he said. “We didn’t lose a lot of players, but the girls are young and they are made up of sophomores and freshmen. The boys are older, they have a couple seniors among them. The girls are young and not as seasoned, so this will be a building year for them.”

The Spencer team has already competed in several meets so far this season, and Klimmer noted that the athletes are already showing good signs of improving. While that may not be enough to get anyone to state this year, he said he is hopeful that at least some of the male athletes will be able to place in the top 21 at conference.

“The first meet was a good starting point for us,” he said. “We have already seen some improvement by then. We are going to work on improving our times and as this year goes on, hope that they get better and better. We have really consistent runners, and I hope one of them will get a medal at conference.”

The members of the Spencer cross country team this year consists of freshmen Kaydence Plaskey, Rachel Nieman, Henry Glamm and Breckin Miller; sophomores Theresa Knecht and Zaprina Bulla; and seniors Andrew Sieracki and Malachai Anderson.

CHEYENNE THOMAS/STAFF PHOTO