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Bear runners are ready for a new season

LAUREL — A campaign that saw the Laurel-Concord-Coleridge cross country team record numerous career best times at the most pivotal time of the year only gives rise to higher expectations.

The Bears, led by fourth year head coach Alex Glaubius, saw runners perform at their best in the conference and district meets with finishes that were better than any prior for almost a decade according to the program’s leader.

The Bears return one varsity girls runner and three boys including sophomore Gabbie Kock and senior boys Dillon Olson and Trevor Boysen and sophomore Tyler Olson.

“Dillon led our team throughout the season last year,” Glaubius said. “He has been with the program since seventh grade and is a great leader in the team and promotes his teammates through practice and determination. This year we will field a younger squad, however, a lot of these runners have run in the junior high program.”

The Bears, all told, will have two seniors, five sophomores and four freshmen, so the lessons learned from a strong finish a year ago can only lead to a strong example for a younger, impressionable team.

“We have some great talent leading us in the seniors with a lot of talent coming into the program,” Glaubius said. “Our goal is to always build off the previous season and the previous week, so we are excited to build long term runners and help them reach their peaks by districts. We should be competitive with a tight pack.”

Other runners include freshman Yasmine Miranda that will make up the two-girl team and sophomores Taner Stanley, Kolby Hansen and Shawn Griffith and freshmen Koby Detlefsen, Carter Korth and Preston Rose.

Dillon Olson said the team so far has been putting in the hard work during a hot summer that should pay off this campaign.

“We’re hoping that we win some plaques for Laurel: We haven’t really done that in a long time,” he said. “Over the summer we did group runs and we would get together as a team hoping to better ourselves. We’ve been doing it ever since the first week of June.

“It can be really hard in the summer, so we do it usually at morning times. In the afternoon we had to make sure we hydrate, or we could pass out on the runs.”

Dillon Olson added that competing in a sport that can make one really grind while doing it is one that he does since it comes naturally.

“I’ve been doing it since I was a kid,” he said. “You have pride that you finish the race.”

The season gets underway for the Bears at 4:30 p.m. Aug. 26 at the Hartington-Newcastle Invitational.

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