West Fork boys cross country has eyes set on top end of conference

Heading into the season, the West Fork Warhawks boys cross country team has a goal of being in the top part of the conference according to head coach Zachary Ortloff.

“We are kind of looking at the fourth or fifth spot where we kind of see a lot of those teams that are there all the time and we are hoping to get in the mix with them a little bit and try to use them to pull us alongand challenge us a little bit,” Ortloff said. “So we are making that kind of our goal to start challenging those better teams in 2A and 1A that might be able to pull us along a little bit and make us a little bit of a surprise to other people.”

During the first couple of meets of the season, Ortloff said that he would like to see some of the runners step up and fill the holes left behind from the seniors who graduated last year.

“We had four seniors that left us last year and we had a couple of them who were key components of the team during the two years that I have been with the team,” Ortloff said. “Now we have some other guys who have an opportunity to step in and fill those gaps and make a name for themselves.”

As the season moves along, Ortloff said that he would like to see the runners continue to keep the same level of pressure on them for the whole season and give the same level of effort throughout the whole season.

“I would like to see us keep our foot on the gas so we are not going to get in that early season and then start burning out,” Ortloff said. “I would like us to stay consistent with trying to push ourselves with every single time we go out and compete. That would be something I would love to see from our group.”

There are multiple runners who can have a successful year for the Warhawks.

“There is Xavier Baptiste, who competed for half the season with us,” Ortloff said. “He did great in those couple of meets as he never did cross country before and he came in and showed he had what it takes. There is also Trevor Despenas, this is going to be his second year on the team for us and I think he is going to be one of those glue guys. Where his strong suit is track in the 200-meters and the 400-meters but at the end of the day he is still just an athlete and I think he has what it takes to take a spot in the varsity roster. There is also Ashyr Wiseman who is in his fourth year out and he is going to be consistent across the board and he is going to be someone I rely on to give his all in those meets and to get in one of those top five scoring spots.”

Ortloff pointed out there are a couple of underclassmen he has his eyes on as well.

“We have two sophomores in Max Martinek and Owen Wedmore who I think are going to be big components for us as well and then we have a junior in Aaron Ihrke and a freshman I think who is looking to crack into that lineup is Kaden Graf who put a lot of work in the summer and put a lot of miles in.”

One area the team has been working on getting ready for race day paces.

“We have been doing a lot of work especially on our interval training with speed work. We are doing a lot of high interval training to get us used to the race day paces,” Ortloff said. “Because you can do as many easy recovery runs as possible but trying to get them into that race shape as quickly as we can so they are ready at the start of the season and I have to do my best to prepare them for that race day feeling because that is what we are going to be competing for.”

The team’s next meet is on the road on Sept. 10 at Belmond Country Club at 5:30 p.m.