DeLand's Girls Cross Country Ends the Season on a High Note!

The Girls Cross Country team started the season ranked 8th out of the 10 Conference schools.  For the returning nucleus of Annica Gaebel, Madison Skelton, Rachel Stadtler and Alyssa Panda, Coach Low knew that the added year of experience was going to pay off and that experience was not showing up in the rankings… yet.  What Coach did not know was that 19 freshmen girls would come out for the team.  Although most of them could not run a half mile without having to walk, he knew that they would round into decent shape by the end of the season.  The girls progressed steadily while keeping 15 of the 19 freshmen through the season.  During the middle stretch of meets the girls had worked their way up to 6th in the rankings, with Orange City and New Smyrna Beach ahead of them, but within reach.  Coach Low kept telling the girls that those teams were not running in the same meets as DeLand.  Their courses were easier and the teams they were racing against were less challenging.  The breakthrough occurred at the Volusia/Flagler Freshman/Sophomore Meet held at Spruce Creek.  Every girl on the team ran a new personal best and with all of the 5 Star Conference teams present, the girls would get an idea of head to head match ups.  Deland’s freshmen and sophomores took home a solid second place finish in that meet and moreover, proved that their hard work was paying off.  The question remained however, how would they do against the full varsities?  The DeLand girls are a young team with no seniors, 4 juniors and 21 freshmen and sophomores.  How would they stack up against the top teams?  The 5 Star Conference Meet took place Monday, October 17th at Sperling Sports Complex.  Much to the disappointment of our girls, only two of them ran season best times that day.  However, none of the other teams were setting season record times on the muddy, post-hurricane course.  Our girls did what they had to do.  They rose up against Orange City and New Smyrna and took 4th place!  With the three teams ahead of us, Creek, Flagler and Seabreeze, all counting heavily on their upperclassmen, the future looks bright for our young girls!  With continued hard work and dedication they have their sights set on a post-season presence the next two years and a return to DeLand’s place as an XC powerhouse!