On October 18, 2017, the Midlo Cross Country team gathered at Pocahontas State Park to run the last regular season meet of the year. For many of the runners on the team, this course has become second nature; only on this night, each senior undoubtedly suffered from not only butterflies in their stomachs, but an entire zoo. After hundreds of miles and countless hours spent training on that very field, their high school cross country careers neared a bittersweet end. Emotions ran high as senior night for the boys and girls cross country team signaled the end of a four year journey for many of the young men and women being honored on this night. The young men honored on this brisk October evening included: Clay Robb, Kelan Nedwick, Doug McCreight, Robbie Rowley, and Max Turklay. As they stood before coaches, friends, and family, their proud parents symbolically embraced their talented children arm-in-arm, commemorating a fantastic Midlo Cross Country career. Captain and 4 year varsity runner Turklay displayed honorable leadership and mentoring qualities, describing his emotions as “something I have almost never felt,” later adding, “I have worked at this for 4 years; it’s finally hitting me that it really is over”.

As for the young ladies, Camryn Adams, Ashlyn Ferguson, Eva Johnson, Leach Schachman, and Haley Hopkins, this senior night represented a similarly emotional, yet exciting, time in their lives. Years of hard work and determination were finally coming to an all-encompassing end, despite the nostalgic feeling that they began this journey just yesterday. One of the most dedicated runners in Midlo’s recent history and Captain, Adams struggled to accept that her time as a high school cross country athlete was coming to a close, stating, “I can’t wait to start the next 4 years of my life, but I’m really going to miss this team.”.

As far as the regional race, Midlo received stand-out performances from Nedwick, with a time of 17:15, and Johnson, who finished in second place overall. After the race, Johnson shared her feelings toward the race and the season as a whole, commenting, “The race, and really the entire season, didn’t start out the way I had hoped, but as the race went on, I started to feel really good, and I was able finish it off strong.”. Overall, congratulations to Midlo’s fine senior runners on a spectacular season and career.