Cross Country | 11/11/2024 1:43:00 PM

It's about time to say goodbye to our class of 2025 seniors. Today we are looking at a few from cross country. Let's see what these seniors and coaches have to say about their seasons, starting with Sulzen. In his words, he states "This has been a great group of kids and they have been awesome leaders. Some of theses kids I've known since 7th grade having taught at Antioch." He spoke on how he feels that the leadership skills the seniors had will now be passed down to the younger runners. Having had people to look up to to set them up for success. Now onto the runners 

Mohammed Elglossy played football for five years but began to realize football just wasn't for him. When he  lost some love for the sport, and started to love running more. He ran track for four years. Was on varsity in his first year, and placed four out of five meets, He with all of this made it to state this year. He also has success in academics with a GPA of 3.5 A's and B's. He hopes to continue cross country and track in college CMU is looking good for him. Mohammed tries to mentor the younger ones, and he sees his team as family. I want to make note that he shares this trait with all the other seniors. Every single one I talked to had the same feeling of family in their team.

Our next senior, Liv Lohf, has two years of cross country under her belt along with four years of track varsity for all. She also just went to state. Liv transferred from Illinois and has a talent in the arts; she placed last year at Oak Park's yearly art show. With all of this, Liv maintains A's and B's. She is looking at Saint Mary's College for her future. Liv feels like her sport helped her to be better. In her words, "Cross country changed my perspective on a lot of things." She also talked about how it made it easier to put herself out there. 

Now onto Alaina Thomas, who, even though she suffered a couple of injuries this year, was still positive and happy to see the underclass involvement. Alaina has been doing cross country for five years since she was also in soccer and track. Even with all her sports, she maintains good grades, always above a 3.9. Alaina spoke about how she was taught to keep this at a young age. With her mentality and leadership skills, it's no surprise that she was blue blood last year for cross country. Alaina is looking into Rockhurst or Park University. One last thing we can't forget is that she is one of our senior class officers.

Patrik Mcadasms four years of cross-country varsity, three years. He has plans to follow his passion and go to trade school for cosmetology to be a tattoo artist. Patrick lives by the motto "You can find friends in unusual places." Having found some of their closest friends through being open. He talked about how his experiences in cross country made him have the desire to give the new athletes the same experience he had. For example, he built connections in cross country that were strong and trusting; he felt he could express himself freely. Hints why it's important to him to keep connections going.

Meleah Rulon was in cross country for two years, and on track three, she was varsity for both for all years. Good grades looking to continue track in college. The colleges that are catching her eye are Northwest and Truman. Plans to use the two free years at Maple Woods to her advantage first. Her favorite quote that came from Sullen is "Be comfortable with being uncomfortable."

Mitchel  Foster has run for Oak Park cross country for four years and varsity for three. Mitchell is looking into Park University for college; his motto for the season was "Cross country sucks, but it's the best thing I've ever joined." He feels that you have to have a good mindset. His advice is to not dwell on past races. 

Last but not least Coach Rumsey's word on the season. She spoke of this being the hardest year yet just having this be her first year of graduates that she got to be there from the beginning to the end. She spoke of Mitchell having completely cut his time in half And the growth she overall saw in the team. Speaking with the team and coaches I saw a pattern of finding family in the team and they all make sure to put work in not just their sport but in life as well. There  a team full of people to look up to.