“We tabbed ourselves the no-names because we were a bunch of guys nobody knew,” said Coach Paul Vandersteen about his boys’ cross country team. At the beginning of the season, the boys’ cross country team was an unknown mix of runners who had yet to prove themselves . Zach Kinne had moved away before this year, and because he finished in fourth place overall at last year’s state meet, the team knew they were losing a strong runner. However, this did not stop them from succeeding. They finished third overall in the state, proving they were not no-names, that they could band together to run hard without Kinne, and their effort shows.  

 Coach Vandersteen attributes this success to the hard work of his runners. By consistently showing up to practice and by working hard both in and out of practice, his runners have been able to push past the expectations of their critics. The history of the team helps push the team forward as well. Cross country at Neuqua has a long track record of success, having finished in the top four at state for the past five years. This success has pushed the Neuqua Valley runners to run fast and to carry the torch through the years to win after win.

The cross country team did not stop at state, going on to the Nike’s Cross Country Midwest Regional Championships where they finished in fourth place out of 36 different teams from the Midwest region. They had 162 points at the end of the tournament. Michael Madio and Chris Keeley made big gains for their team, finishing 25th and 27th respectively out of the 350 competing runners.  At the end of the season the boys cross country team finished third in state and took fourth in regionals.