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Coach wants West Lyon to have fun, be competitive
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CopyTodd McCallum Head Coach
INWOOD -- West Lyon boys and girls cross country teams will be building from the ground floor up in 2009, as Coach Todd McCallum will be trying to plug new runners into several vacant holes on the girl's team through graduation or injury. On the boy's side three runner's return out of four from 2008.
"Running is something you have to love to do, whether the coach is there or not," said McCallum "The challenge we face is getting our younger runners on both teams motivated to compete. At the same time experience some success and have fun doing it."
Right now, senior Teresa Klarenbeek, a 2008 All-Siouxland Conference performer is the face of the girls program. But even Klarenbeek has yet to run on the soil of the state meet -- a goal she will strive for in 2009.
Klarenbeek finished 11th overall in the Siouxland Conference meet last year with a time of 16:44.04 and 23rd in the district meet held in Holstein with a time of 17:11.85. Sophomore Kendra Gerber would have made a formable 1 - 2 punch for the Wildcats, but may be lost for the season due to surgery. Gerber also collected all-league honors a season ago, where she finished the conference meet in eighth place (16:39.43) and 22nd in the district meet (17:10.41).
Junior Alex Kollis and sophomore Jamie Pedersen on the girl's team earned some varsity meet experience. Newcomer this year is Kristin Klarenbeek.
Last season,' as a junior, Henry Bosler was competing for the first time in cross country. He quickly experienced some success and missed becoming an All-Siouxland Conference runner by just two place finishes with his 17th place finish in a time of 18:24.64.
Also having gone through the 5K wars for the Wildcats is seniors Jordan Kerkvliet, Luke Larsen and Connor Blom.
From there it's a question of "look what the stork dropped by."
The remainder of the boy's roster, is like a jigsaw puzzle with sophomores and freshmen. Getting the pieces to fit perfectly together will be the task at hand for McCallum, who enters his 12th season at the helm. Sophomores are Tyler Kruse and Jacob Munger. Freshmen are Chris Kollis, Kyle Standley and Chase Bruggeman.
Nine challenging meets face the Wildcats during the regular season, including the West Lyon Invitational scheduled for the Larchwood Golf Course on Sept. 14.
Copyright 2009 West Lyon Herald, Inwood, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from SmallTownPapers, Inc.
© 2009 West Lyon Herald Inwood, Iowa. All Rights Reserved. This content, including derivations, may not be stored or distributed in any manner, disseminated, published, broadcast, rewritten or reproduced without express, written consent from DAS.
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