On Thursday, Sept. 10, the PCM Mustangs cross country team traveled to Camp Dodge for the Johnston invitational. They were met with resistance, though. The boys placed sixth out of the nine teams. The girls also were confronted with a fight and placed fifth out of the nine teams.
Junior Chris Ellens did better at Camp Dodge than at Gilbert, lowering his time by 1:45, from 19:12 at Gilbert to 17:46 at Johnston, and placing eighth out of the 144 boys who ran the 5K.
Ellens said, “I feel I ran well. The weather was perfect, and it always helps to have a lot of people so you can be competitive the whole time.”
Also on the boys’ side, sophomore Blake Lee finished at 18th place with a time of 18:33.
Where on the girls’ side, junior Jayci Vos had a time of 22:03, lower than her time at Gilbert, which was 23:32. Additionally, senior Morgan Novak placed 29th with a time of 23:52.

If the season was a jam sandwich, then this would just be the bread. There are a lot more meets and a lot more time for development and refinement. Absolutely everyone in XC lowered their time from the Gilbert meet. This is the beginning of the season, and there is always room for improvement.