Spiking up and psyching up

Adrenaline is on the rise as the Boys Cross Country team gears up for state for the second year in a row. Previously ranked 8th going into the sectionals meet at Busse Woods last Saturday, Prospect placed 4th, improving the team’s overall seed and qualifying them for state competition. The Prospect girls’ cross country team also saw huge success, by winning the sectional meet and qualifying for state. 

This improvement for the boys is largely due to the fact that six out of the seven Prospect sectionals qualifiers hit their PRs during Saturday’s meet. Senior Jack Murphy, for instance, ran the 3 mile varsity race in 15 minutes and 39 seconds, shaving a respectable 31 seconds off his previous record and bolstering the team’s competitive status. 

Only the top seven teams from sectionals are in the running for state competition, so all the athletes exploited their full potential to push them into qualifying territory.

“There’s no one on varsity who doesn’t work as hard as they can every day at every practice, especially during hard workouts,” Murphy said.

Murphy says that many of the athletes hadn’t raced up to their full ability up to this point. Therefore, he is all the more excited to see the reward of the team’s collective efforts throughout the season.

Being a senior, Murphy felt a burning desire to compete one more time before his highschool career comes to a close, giving him even more incentive to unleash his best possible performance during sectionals.

With heads held high, Murphy and his teammates carry that same fighting spirit with them as they leave for the state meet today, hosted at Detweiller Park in Peoria, Illinois.