On Monday, Oct. 3, the Sequoit girls and boys cross country teams traveled to their home course in Fox River Park, IL. This meet not only was a great success in the training of Sequoit cross country, but it also featured Antioch’s cross country senior night.

This cross country race was not a typical race for the Sequoits because they used it to prepare for their important meet on that upcoming Friday night, Oct. 7. The meet featured two other teams, Grant and Wauconda. In this meet each athlete was given a specific time for each mile and was told to hold this pace for the entirety of the race. This allowed the runners to get in a good workout without wasting one of their meet days.

Both the girls and boys cross country teams had huge success with this training plan. Not racing as hard as normal allowed each athlete to figure out what they needed to improve on for the upcoming meets. Senior Braxton Schieler believed that this meet was extremely beneficial for the preparation for the Lakes Sunset invitational and for the rest of the upcoming season.

“I think scaling it back and really focusing our attention on a couple of those big meets is the right way to approach the final stretch of our season,” Schieler said.

Along with Schieler, many of the other runners felt it was the right decision to use this meet as more of a practice. Senior captain, Ben Georgia, believed that the recent pace workouts the cross country team has been doing have helped him become a stronger runner. Georgia was able to hold a consistent 6:35 mile time throughout the three-mile race on Monday and was finally able to break 20 minutes on his home course. Georgia and Schieler both believed that this strategy of pacing this meet would help the crossm country team in the long run.

“I think that on Monday, it was very much so the right choice to have us do a tempo day rather than giving 100%,” Georgia said.

This meet against both Grant and Wauconda is the last invitational the Sequoits will be hosting this season. In true fashion, the cross country senior night took place after the meet to celebrate the amazing seniors on their final race at their home course. Senior night is used to celebrate all of the hard work that these athletes have put in throughout their time on the cross country team.

Each senior shared one thing they loved about their time participating in cross country and whether they are going to take their running career to the next level. Many of the senior athletes shared that although they will miss the cross country team, they were more excited that they were able to experience high school surrounded by amazing people. Senior night consisted of the seniors sharing their experiences, getting their signs, and receiving their senior gifts. This experience is something many of the senior athletes will never forget.

“It’s a unique experience, and I thought it was such an amazing atmosphere on senior night and a really fun event,” Georgia said.

As of now there is only one senior runner that is going to be continuing their running career in college. Alison Pasdiora is the only senior girl this year and she will be running cross country along with track in Minnesota at Bemidji State University.

“It felt great to see where everyone is going next and to share with everybody what I’m doing after high school,” Pasdiora said. “It was cool to see my teammates supporting me, I just love this team.”

Most of the seniors described cross country as not only a sport, but as a family. These athletes have spent each day with each other for the past couple of years and have created a bond that will last forever. The seniors hope to finish out their final year with success by both the girls and boys teams making it to the IHSA State series. This state series starts this weekend where the running Sequoits will take on their Northern Lake County Conference competition and hope to have success.