Junior Jack McGirl is fast. He has increased his speed on the cross country course each of three years on the EHS team, “It’s a hard sport but you just have to keep in the game,” McGirl said. He has been running for seven years. this year, McGirl was the Frontier League Athlete of the Year and placed high at the state competition at Norris Penrose Event Center in Colorado Springs at the start of November.
This cross-country season may have been one of the best EHS has had and Jack McGirl is one of the best in the state, “Jack McGirl is our top runner, and he ended up 28th in the state,” Coach Sean Stetler said.
Coach Stetler has hopes for the future of cross-country in EHS to become a bigger thing and that more students become eager to join, “hope that the team keeps getting bigger, that the running culture at the school keeps improving. I think it’s sometimes hard to convince kids that it’s cool and fun to run a 5k, but I think each year we’re getting some more kids out and we’re seeing more success so” says Sean.
Sean Stetler believes anyone can run a 5k with a little bit of practice and enough determination. Cross-country is a sport that requires a lot of endurance and determination but Stetler believes anyone can do it with the right mind.
Team members ran personal bests this year including Lili Gutierrez who PR’d at 38:55, Jesus Fontes at 26:20, Mars Kabeiseman at 26:31, and Cole Powers at 26:35 for the 5K.
“State was my best ever run,” McGirl said. He has one more year in high school to beat it again.
