Today, Nov. 1, two athletes will run at the state cross country meet at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge, Iowa. The two qualifying runners are juniors Slader Buckheister and Adam Gray, who will begin the race at 2:45 p.m.
Buckheister and Gray qualified as individuals. In order to qualify as a team, the team must place third or above in the state qualifying meet to compete at state. However, to compete individually, runners must place in the top 15 at the state qualifying meet to continue to state. Buckheister placed in third and Gray right behind him in fourth. Their team as a whole placed sixth, so they did not qualify for the meet.
“I am very happy about qualifying for the state meet,” Gray said. “The beginning of the cross country season for me was a little rough because of injury and sickness, and I was also worried I wasn’t going to get my health back at 100%.”
Gray tore a hip flexor muscle which led to him not running for two weeks.
“My injury did set me back,” Gray said. “It took time for me to hit the same running times I was at last year. It wasn’t because I was out of shape, I just couldn’t run without feeling pain in my hip flexor. I just kept telling myself good things take time.”
Cross country takes dedication. Both Buckheister and Gray practice Monday through Saturday for an hour and a half. Buckheister has been in cross country for quite some time.
“I’ve been doing cross country since sixth grade,” Buckheister said. “I did some running activities in elementary school but it didn’t get serious until middle school.”
Even though Buckheister had experience in cross country before middle school, there is a difference between the sport between middle and high school.
“Middle school running was less competitive. Starting in high school, it started to become a commitment, even practicing during the off-season,” Buckheister said.
During the off-season, Buckheister feels it’s more of a commitment than during in-season. There are a few differences between the two seasons.
“The reason I say it’s more of a commitment is because the off-season is twice as long,” Buckheister said. “During the off-season, you don’t have a coach to guide and tell you what to do. We have to make our own schedule, training plan and manage other activities as well.”
These efforts to excel in the sport have led to Buckheister and Gray’s opportunity to compete at state.
“I feel ready for the race,” Gray said. “It’s going to be a fast pace race but nothing I haven’t experienced yet.”
